Half Breed
by hatashikitty
Summary: This Story has been discontinued because I totally messed up the plot and it needs to be rewritten in a bad way.
1. Chapter 1: Fresh Blood

Half-Breed

Chapter One: Fresh Blood

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

(Author's note: Okay, everyone. This is my first "Mary Sue" story I have ever submitted on . I hope it goes well. I'd like to that everyone who watches my Deviantart page. If it wasn't for the people who was interested in my Road Rovers art and in Mira, I wouldn't have written this story. I hope I can turn out the chapters quickly, but lately I've changed the storyline even after writing chapter summaries. I hope everyone enjoys, and I look forward to your comments.)

"No, it's still not right!"

The owner of the angry voice pushed his notes saw the end results of his latest experiment after trying to improve the transdogmafier. He yelled as he threw his fist into the wall. When he removed his hand, there was a dent. He wasn't hurt, but he still checked to see if the metal digits still worked after his tantrum.

"You'll get it eventually," his assistant comforted in a soothing voice. "You're a brilliant man. You can do it."

"No, I can't!" the man disagreed. "It's all wrong, Groomer. The blue prints he gave me years ago, there's something wrong with them. I can make cano-mutants, and they're loyal to me, but it isn't enough. There's something missing." The man started to cough in fits.

Groomer tried to give the man a lozenge, but was refused. "What's missing, then?"

"I don't know. The professor left something out. Or he added something later on," the man said with an evil glare in his eye. "Something that gives them extra powers."

Groomer opened her eyes wider. "You want to make more Road Rovers, General?"

"No, not Road Rovers," Parvo growled, and threw more stuff onto the floor. "A more powerful and intelligent cano-mutant, but these will be loyal to me. I must know how. It is the only way I can defeat the Road Rovers. And the only one who knows the secret is that dratted Shepherd."

Groomer tapped her lips, and then smiled. She touched General Parvo's arm suggestively. "He may be the only one who knows the secret now. But there may be others who can find out," she told him in a soothing voice.

"Who?" General Parvo asked with interest, his anger subsiding.

Groomer, smiled at him, and moved away with a swing of her hips. "There was an interesting broadcast on the news this evening. I have looked it up on the Internet for you." The Groomer moved to the large screen in the room and opened up the Internet and typed in a website's name. It was one of the larger news channels. She clinked on a few links, and a video clip popped up. "This is it, General."

Parvo sat down in a chair and steepled his fingers together with an expression of deep concentration. It told the Groomer that if he wasn't pleased with her idea, it may become her own short comings.

The video clip played. There were two men on camera. One man was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and tie, and he smiled broadly to the camera with microphone in hand. The other man had short black hair, dark skin and a white lab coat over a black T-shirt that said "I *heart* Science!" Besides the man in the lab coat, a dog sat on the counter. The dog was medium sized with a short muzzle and sharp ears. He was covered it dark grey fur with a lighter coloring on his face, chest, belly, lower tail and legs. The dog was panting with a big smile on his face as his master patted him on the head.

"I am here with Prof. Ravi Patel at the University of Science. Although he has only been a professor here for less than a year, his newest experiments have produced some startling results. Can you please tell us about it, Prof. Patel."

Prof. Patel hesitantly put his head closer to the microphone as it was offered to him, but started to speak. His words came out with a slight Indian accent.

"Well, first I'd like to say that I've been working on this project longer than that. It's actually been almost three years. I have been experimenting with human DNA in canines and visa versa."

The reporter took his microphone back, and looked confused. "Can you tell the viewers what that'll actually do?"

Prof. Patel looked as if he couldn't put it any clearer, and rubbed his chin. "Well, let me tell you what I've come up with so far," Patel told the reporter and turned to the dog on the counter. "I have been using my dog, Dash, here in my experiments. My intentions were to give dogs a more human-like intelligence so that they can understand their owners better. If we can communicate with dogs more, dogs could be trained faster to help out man-kind. Service dogs, police dogs, and guard dogs will be able to serve their owners much more efficiently. And I hope that they may be taught a moral code to follow so that dogs will not become victims of human cruelty. I'm hoping to reduce the amount of dog fighting and abuse by giving dogs the ability to think and choose their owners."

The reporter looked at the camera and gave it a big smile. "That's amazing. And has your experiments worked?"

Prof. Patel once again turned to his dog. "I believe so far Dash is a success as a test subject. His IQ has been raised 50 points in the past year. He can answer simple math questions, recognize over 200 faces according to their picture, remembers what he did weeks ago, he even chooses what he wants to eat for dinner."

Dash barked at this, and wagged his tail.

"He can even write his name," Prof. Patel said. He pulled over a white erase board, and gave Dash a marker in his mouth. The dog moved to the board, and in capital, sloppy letters, wrote his name. "Good boy," Prof. Patel said, and scratched the dog's ears.

"Unbelievable," the reporter said, actually amazed.

"But that's not all," the doctor said, and put away the white board. "I'm also hoping that the experiments will increase the dog's age. I'm sure all dog lovers have buried a dear friend they didn't want to loose. I'm hoping that these experiments will let the dog live longer, and decrease that pain. However, Dash here is only seven years old, still young, so we won't know until maybe over a decade if all goes well."

The reporter nodded. "You also said something about using the same experiments on humans, doctor?"

Patel nodded. "Well, I hope so. Unfortunately, I don't believe that it is ethical to try these experiments on people until I perfected the technique with dogs. Dash is my only subject now, but starting next month, I'm going to try it on several dogs. My intentions are to help people who have lost most of their hearing. Since dogs have such keen ears, perhaps that ability can be transmitted to humans."

"Are you saying that you can cure deafness, doctor?" the reporter asked, looking surprised.

"Well, not really. If the person lost all of their hearing, I couldn't do anything. But even if that person still has even a tiny bit of hearing, I can enhance it," the doctor told the reporter.

"Turn it off. I've seen enough," Parvo said.

The Groomer's attention had been locked on the screen since the report started, and didn't realize how much into it she had been even though she'd seen it all before. It was Parvo's voice that brought her back to reality, and she turned the screen off.

"What do you think, General?" she asked, her voice soft as she wondered how he would take the information.

"That name, Ravi Patel. He seems familiar," the general said, stroking his moustache.

The Groomer picked up a file. "I researched him after seeing the broadcast. This is why I thought you'd be interested in him. He was an intern of Prof. Shepherd. Before Prof. Shepherd disappeared, Prof. Patel was working side by side with Prof. Shepherd as a colleague."

"Yes, that's where I heard his name," General Parvo said, and smiled. "This is good. This is just what I needed, Groomer."

The Groomer smiled, glad that she was helping the General.

"Gather the remaining cano-mutants," Parvo ordered as he stood up. "We're going on a little trip."

* * *

Professor Shepherd heard the humming of the coaster pods that transported five particular canines to his underground base. As they arrived one by one, he could hear the padding of paws and the activation of one of his greatest inventions, the transdogmafier. Five dogs went in and came out changed into intelligent, human-like beings that were known as the Road Rovers.

"Blimey, can't we have a mission during a decent hour," Colleen said with a yawn and waved away the mist from the cano-mutator. "A girl needs her beauty sleep."

Her other companions opened their jaws to say something, but she stopped them.

"I better not hear a word about that from you blokes," she told them with a smile.

"It is a little strange to be called out in the middle of the night," Hunter said, tossing his always present tennis ball from one hand to another. "We better see what The Master has for us."

The five Road Rovers moved further into their head quarters to the war room where they received their mission profiles from The Master. As they walked, they were joined by the other resident of the compound, and a strange sight for anyone not familiar with him.

"Hey Muzzle. How's it going, buddy?" Hunter spoke in baby talk to the rottweiler as it bounced closer in his gurney. He patted the dog's head. "Sorry, buddy. I can't play now. We've got a mission. I'll see if you can come with us."

Muzzle grunted with pleasure at the thought of being able to accompany the Road Rovers on their missions. And if it was a really good mission, they might let him attack bad people.

As the group passed by muzzle, one shirked back from the foaming mouth of the rottweiler.

"We don't need him to come. You have me to take care of the biting of bad guy tooshies," Blitz said with pride.

Exile rolled his eyes. "This suppose to reassure us?" he asked in his heavy accent.

Blitz glared at the husky, but didn't say anything more. He was too tired to argue or defend himself.

"I'm sorry for the early wake up, but I'm afraid it was urgent, Road Rovers," Prof. Shephdrd told the cano-sapiens as they entered the war chamber and sat down. "This couldn't wait any longer."

"What is it, Master?" Hunter asked, looking concerned. "Are we finally going to rescue those poor dogs from Paris Hilton?"

"Jolly good. It's about time," Colleen added, as she practiced her karate in her seat.

"Uh. . .no," Shepherd said with a sigh, his hopes of the Road Rovers being serious for once failing. "There is quite a bit of information that you need to know before I can explain how dire the situation is."

Prof. Shepherd used a remote to turn the lights off and turn on the computer screen. "This was broadcasted on the ten o' clock news only a few hours ago." He turned on the news report.

As soon as the video clip started, Shag rummaged through his fur to pull out a large bowl of popcorn. It wasn't long before all five Rovers were reaching over their companions to get a handful as they watched the news broadcast of Prof. Ravi Patel's experiments.

Once the clip was over, Shepherd turned the lights back on. "What do you think, Rovers?" he asked, curious if they understood what it implied.

Colleen looked deep in thought. "The acting was good, but I felt as if the director could have done better. I give it one thumb up," she said with a big smile and raised one thumb.

Shepherd sighed again. "Rovers, this is bad news for us. So far, Parvo's cano-mutants have limited intelligence and powers; this is because my blue prints from three years ago were elementary compared to the transdogmafier I made that transformed you. But that could all change if he gets a hold of Prof. Patel. Prof. Patel was a colleague of mine, and he would have the know-how to improve the transdogmafier."

The seriousness of the situation sunk into the Road Rovers.

"If I know Parvo," Prof. Shepherd went on, "he'll be after Prof. Patel as soon as he saw this broadcast. If Parvo succeeds, we'll be facing a new army of Parvo's, one that is just as strong or stronger as you, Road Rovers. You need to get to the professor first, and stop Parvo from succeeding."

Hunter stood up and saluted. "We won't fail you, Master. Road Rovers, let's head out."

Exile quickly followed. He looked back at the others and shouted. "Hey, comrades. Get iron out, while we still young-sky."

Blitz wrinkled his sharp nose at the husky's words. "Am I the only one who never understands what that guy says?" he asked Colleen.

Colleen looked surprised to see Blitz near her. "Oh, I'm sorry, but do I know you?" she asked with indifference.

"It's Blitz. You know I'm Blitz," the doberman told her, his voice whining a bit.

"Blitz?" Colleen tried it on her tongue. "Are you sure? I could have sworn it was something else. Like Sophia."

"But that's a girl's name," Blitz told her in frustration.

"That it is, and a very pretty one for you," Colleen said with a big smile, and patted Blitz on the head before walking away.

Blitz sighed. "It's too early for this bit," he muttered to himself, and followed Exile into the street rover.

Shepherd had his hand over his forehead, and shook his head. "They're competent. They're competent," he reassured himself.

* * *

The University of Science was quiet. No one was on campus save for Ravi Patel and a few campus guards who were only retired police officers that wanted an easy job. He preferred these conditions. Without the students dogging him about their papers, he could get involved in his work without any interruptions. However, once on a roll, he often forgot about the things he needed such as food and sleep. It wasn't unusual for him to work this late into the night. In rare occurrences, he had worked himself nearly into the ground. The only thing that would save him from his own genius was Dash.

Dash loved his master,m and did what he could to help his master with his work. He understood little about the work, but he knew it was very important. He also knew his master's limits, and tried to help the professor whenever he could.

Dash grabbed Ravi's lab coat in his teeth and pulled gently.

Prof. Patel looked down at the canine through magnified goggles, and then lifted up the goggles to see better. "What is it, Dash?"

Dash ran over to the wall, and looked up at the clock while barking.

"Is that really the time?" Ravi asked, looking at his own watch. "It is a little late."

Dash barked again.

"Let me just finish this last thing," Ravi told Dash, and went back to his work.

Dash knew what that meant. It meant that Prof. Patel would finish that last thing, and then start on something else while he was at it, and maybe something else. Dash bit into Patel's lab coat again and tugged harder while growling. He meant business.

"Okay, buddy. We'll go," Prof. Patel said, and set down all his instruments. "Where would I be without you?" he asked the dog with a smile, and patted the silky fur.

Dash barked as he realized his master was going to do as he wanted him to. He turned around a few times, and ran to the door of the lab.

"Hold on, Dash. Let me grab my bag and then we'll go. Good thing it's a weekend. I wouldn't want to lecture tomorrow after tonight," he said, suddenly feeling tired. Getting a good night's rest sounded really good right now. After grabbing his bag, he opened the door and let Dash out.

The dog scampered down the tiled hall, ready for a little exercise before going home. Dash sniffed around the halls, picking up new and old scents, but never going too far away from his master. Dash knew how to behave like a good dog, and rarely had to be on a leash except in places he wasn't familiar with or in large crowds. He never tried to run away or was aggressive toward people or other dogs; he knew better.

Once outside, Ravi pulled a frisbee out of his bag. "Hey, Dash. Look what I have," he said, and waved the flourescent green disk in his hand.

Dash's ears perked up at the sight of the disk, and barked excitedly.

Prof. Patel threw the frisbee, and watched Dash chase after it while he walked to his car. It saddened him that to and from work were some of the few times he could play with Dash, but he promised both himself and his dog that once this research was over, they'd go on a vacation. Perhaps to a log cabin, somewhere that Dash would love to go.

"Prof. Patel, I presume?" a female voice with an Irish accent asked.

Patel spun around quickly, and two figures standing in the darkness. He could have sworn they weren't there before. And he didn't hear them walk up to him. "Uh. . .yes, that's me," he stuttered, nervous by their sudden appearance.

The male figure reached out his right hand for a handshake. "We've been wanting to speak with you Professor," a deep voice said.

Patel extended his own hand, and almost pulled it back when he felt cold metal clamp over his. "Speak with me? About what?" he asked, dropping the handshake. He tried to look at the two figure's faces, but they stayed in the shadows.

"It's about your research," the male figure continued on. "It's quite brilliant. I'm interested in discussing the connection with Prof. Shepherd's own work."

Ravi narrowed his eyes. "Prof. Shepherd? You're familiar with his work?" he asked, trying to keep his tone calm as he recalled his last conversation with his colleague.

"Yes, very familiar," the male voice continued.

Ravi rubbed the back of his head, and relaxed his stance nonchalantly. "I haven't heard from him in over two years. But much of my research is based on his own work. I would be willing to continue this discussion tomorrow. May I have your name?" he asked.

"Parvo," the male voice stated after a moment's hesitation.

Prof. Patel tried not to react to that name as he remembered the night that he last saw his old friend and his dog Scout.

Once the male visitor had said his name, details of the night Shepherd disappeared came to Ravi's recollection. The dog-napping, the exchange of the blue prints of Shepherd's latest machine, it was all very clear.

"Excellent," Ravi said with a smile. "Let me give you a business card, and you can set up an appointment with my assistant." He reached into his bag.

"I'm afraid that we're going to need more of your time than that," the female voice told him, her voice darker than before. "In fact, we're going to need you to come with us." She held up a gun, the barrel peeking out of the shadows and gleaming in the streetlights.

Ravi reacted as he thought they would expect him to. He took a step back, and looked scared. "I don't want any trouble. Please, take my wallet and go," he told them. He felt further into his bag, and found what he wanted. Before they could tell him they didn't want his wallet, he threw at their feet a couple of homemade smoke bombs. They went off with sparks and smoke billowing all around the two. Ravi didn't waste any of the time he bought, and ran for the building he had just exited.

He whistled and called for Dash.

The dog had been watching his master talk to the strangers while holding the frisbee in his mouth. He didn't try to bother his master when he was talking to other humans, so he had stayed back for a while. He also didn't like the smell of the other humans. They had a strong scent of dog on them, but it didn't smell right. It made his nervous. But once his master threw the smoke bombs and started running, Dash was running after his master even before being called.

Prof. Patel rammed his key into the lock and turned. Once both he and Dash were inside, he locked it behind him once more, hoping that would stop Parvo for a while.

As they ran back to the lab, Dash's heart quickened. He didn't know what was going on, but he could smell fear from his master, and that made him scared as well. With his heightened canine brain, he could only make out one thing; those two humans that were talking to his master were bad.

They made it to the lab, and Ravi locked the door behind him. Once there, he started gathering his important documents. Data disks, notebooks full of small, scratchy words and blueprints went into his bag. After that, he went over to his big filing cabinet and pushed it aside. This was a huge feat for him since it weighed more than he did, and he wasn't know for being an athlete. Once moved, the wall revealed another exit from the lab.

There was a loud bang at the lab door. Both dog and master turned to look, and another bang came almost immediately after the first.

"Come on, Dash. Let's go," Ravi called, and opened the secret door with a code on the keypad lock. "Come."

Dash went to his master's side just as the lab door was knocked in.

Ravi gasped in surprise as he saw what came through. They were large dogs that stood on their hind legs, snarling and growling as they locked eyes on him. Ravi started to close the door when Dash growled back at the dog monsters and leapt at them.

"No Dash!" Patel shouted at his dog as Dash attacked. He tried to grab the dog's collar, but Dash was too quick. He watched in horror as his dog, who's back didn't even come to Ravi's knees, tried to take on the monster dogs that easily stood six feet tall. "Dash, come back," he called as he saw Dash leap around the monsters, biting and snapping at them.

Then Dash did something completely unexpected. He turned his head and looked at his master with a piercing glare. He barked, then growled before turning back to the monsters.

Ravi couldn't believe what he had seen. It seemed almost as if Dash had been telling him to leave without his dog. Could Dash have grown that intelligent?

"I made you too smart," he muttered, and closed the secret door behind him. The door opened to a staircase that led to a tunnel that was below the university's basements. At the bottom of the staircase was a tunnel that led to a ladder with an exit disguised man hole cover behind a pizza parlor. Also at the bottom of the staircase were two buttons. One of those buttons would erase all the data on his computers. The other would start a series of small explosions that would destroy the rest of his work. These two buttons, the homemade smoke bombs, and even the backpack full of survival merchandise that he had placed in the tunnel were all precautions he had set up in advance. Prof. Patel couldn't forget what had happened to his friend, and knew if he continued on with his work, the same might happen to him. He had planned for Parvo to come after him in advanced.

"You won't get any of my work," Patel growled, and hit the first button as he rushed down the stairs. It would only take a few seconds for his data to erase. But his thumb wavered over the second button. He thought of what he had left behind. His dog had sacrificed himself to let his master get away. It seemed to be built into a dog's genetic make-up to be self-sacrificing. Dash was willing to die for him. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't destroy his lab, even if it meant that Parvo would have his experiments. If there was any chance for Dash to live and escape, he had to give his dog that chance.

Patel picked up the bag he had left on the bottom step, opened it up to retrieve a flashlight, and ran down the tunnel.

And if Dash didn't make it, he swore he would make Parvo pay for it.

* * *

General Parvo looked around the lab. The cano-mutants had done a little damage to the equipment as they battled the professor's dog, but most of it looked intact. That seemed to be the best news.

"The cano-mutants have come back through the tunnel," Groomer told him with a salute. "They came back empty handed. Patel is gone."

Parvo felt the anger surge through him, and he had a desire to smash something. But the equipment in the lab was too precious to waste. Instead, he kept it to himself.

"And have you looked in the professor's computer?" he asked, his voice shaky from rage.

"Yes, General," Groomer said in the voice that already told bad news. "Everything's been erased, sir."

Parvo growled. "He was expecting us," he speculated. "He was well-prepared. What of his dog?"

"We did capture the professor's dog," Groomer said with a small smile. "He was a tough little mongrel, but he's on a leash now." She gestured her had to where a bull dog cano-mutant held Dash on a leash, growling as the little dog growled and snapped back. "We can use him as bait to lure the professor out of hiding," she suggested.

Parvo rubbed his chin. "No. The professor left his dog behind, so there is no guarantee that he'll come back for him. I have another idea." General Parvo looked around the lab. "Have the cano-mutants grab all that they can, and quickly get them out of here. The police could be hear any minute, and I wouldn't doubt if the Road Rovers came before them. And bring the dog as well."

* * *

ABBA's _Dancing Queen_ blared through the radio just as the digital clock turned to 5:00. A few labored seconds later, a lazy hand reached out and pressed the snooze button. Five minutes later, _Dancing Queen_ turned on again, and the hand flopped out to press the button again. The third time the song started up, a body rose from the bed with a lazy stretch and yawn.

"Oh, crap," Mira Cerar muttered under her breath as she looked at the clock, and jumped out of bed.

The young woman hurried through a quick shower, dressed and started running around her small apartment looking for everything she'd need throughout the day. As she moved around, she kept muttering to herself reminders of what she had to remember. She also kept glancing at her calender, looking at today's date which was circled in bright pink and written in the square "Audition at 1:00 P.M.". She excitedly dance around her apartment picking up a dufflebag near the door, her purse and a set of car keys that was on the couch.

"Okay, I have the address, I have my cloths, keys, purse, lunch and map. What else do I need?" Mira asked herself, looking around anxiously. She looked at her clock. "Uurr, I'm going to be late!" With that, she ran out of the door. A few seconds later, she was unlocking the door to go back inside. She rushed to her bedroom, and picked up her dancing shoes and a necklace next to the shoes. "Can't forget you two, now can I?" she said to the shoes as she shoved them into her dufflebag. She pause at a round mirror hung on the wall to put on her necklace that was a black choker with a bright pink metal heart that looked like a dog tag. She kissed her fingers, pressed them to the heart and said, "Wish me luck, Shadow." Then she ran out the door.

* * *

Hunter looked over the lab one more time. There was no doubt in his mind that Parvo and the Groomer had arrived there first, and the results didn't look good for his team. The lab was picked clean of every piece of equipment and scrap of paper that survived the wreckage. The computers were smashed.

"Huntie, I finished questioning the campus police. They heard a commotion around four o' clock this morning. Parvo beat us by an hour," Colleen reported, looking quite serious.

Hunter tried to smile as he usually did, but he only managed a grim look. "If only we didn't try his house first," he muttered. "Is there anything else we missed?"

"I found something," Exile told his leader. "I was looking outside, and found footprint. The mud, it smelled different." The husky held out a plastic bag with samples of the mud.

Hunter smiled, looking just like his old self, the grim look disappearing. "Good dog, Exile. We can send this back to headquarters and have it analyzed. Maybe we'll be able to find out where Parvo's base is."

"Then we can go rescue the professor," Colleen said with crossed arms.

"Exactly."

"Good. All this looking around and detective stuff is so boring," Blitz said, and kicked some debris. "Let's hurry up and get to the tooshie biting."

"Whoa, keep it on a leash for now, Blitz," Hunter told the doberman. "Let's go, Road Rovers. The more time we waste, the longer Prof. Patel is in danger. Come on, Shag."

The fifth Road Rover was away from the group, and sniffing around the lab much like a dog should. However, he had picked up a scent, and was now whining at the far wall of the lab.

"Shag? What's wrong, buddy?" Hunter asked, his head tilted to the side.

"Rah rah rararararah rah rah rah," Shag called to his leader.

"Really? I had no idea that you were an Eagles fan," Hunter said with a smile.

"Rah rah," Shag said with a nod. And then pointed to the wall. "Rah rah rah rarararah rah rah rara rah."

"What? You also think that Parvo doesn't have the professor?" Hunter inquired, and rushed the Shag's side. "What did you find?"

Shag sniffed around the wall, and then put his paws against a small crack and pulled away a section of the wall.

"Whoa!" Hunter exclaimed as he looked down the stairs. "A secret exit. I would not have predicted this."

"Uh, Huntie. I think that's why it's called a 'secret' exit," Colleen pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Hunter admitted with good humor. "New plan, Rovers. Shag and Colleen, you take the sky rover, and take that sample back to HQ. Blitz, Exile and I will follow this passage way. If the professor is still free, we'll find him. Call us once you find out about that sample."

"Righto," Colleen said with a quick salute before they split up.

* * *

"Hey there, handsome. How have you been, Titan?"

The great dane barked excitedly and wagged his tail, knowing that he was being complimented.

"Are you ready for a day of doggy daycare? Huh, are ya buddy?"

The middle aged man that held onto the great dane's leash chuckled. "It amazes me how much that mutt seems to understand ya, Mira. I could swear that you must speak dog."

Mira laughed too, but she didn't laugh long. "It's a gift," she said with a shrug. She took the leash from the man, and led the great dane back. "Try to be on time today, Mr. Smith. I'm only working a half day today, so I can't stay late."

"Alrighty, Mira. Bye Titan."

The large dog said good-bye to his master, and then followed Mira into the pet hotel with his nose to the ground inhaling the new scents.

As Mira led Titan through the building to a kennel, another employee came by with a bulldog. At the sight of the bigger dog, the bulldog's hackles raised, and a threatening growl came from his muzzle. The other employee immediately pulled back on the bulldog's leash. Titan, in response to the bulldog's, tensed up and raised his own hackles.

Mira felt the emotion of the great dane, and stopped. With her hand on the large dog's head, she told him in a gentle voice, "Hey, none of that."

Titan, who was tall enough to look Mira in the eye, did, and lowered his hackles with an apologetic whine.

"Sit, Titan," Mira told the great dane. "Hey, what's your name?" she asked, moving her head toward the employee and the bulldog.

"Uh. . .it's John," the employee told her as he held back the bulldog.

As soon as Mira started speaking in his direction, the bulldog stopped growling.

"Bring Spud over here, but very slowly. Stand up straight, and keep calm," Mira told John, gesturing with her hand for him to come forward.

John hesitated, but did as he was told, although he kept his back hunched as if anticipating the bulldog to lunge forward.

"That's it. Take it easy," Mira said, her voice going softer. Her eyes were on the bulldog. "See, he's not so scary. He's just a bigger dog. But he's friendly."

Titan wagged his tail as if to show that Mira wasn't lying.

The bulldog came forward slowly, and when the two were close enough, they reached out and sniffed noses, Titan's tail still wagging.

"See, there's nothing to be scared of. This is Titan, Spud. We're all friends here," Mira said, and knelt down to pet the bulldog. "That's a good boy."

"You must have worked here a long time to be able to remember Spud's name," John said, trying to make conversation with the woman. "I just started two weeks ago, and I can't even remember just the people's names," he said with a laugh.

"Well, I've been here for a very long time," Mira said, still petting Spud. "But I find it easier to remember the dogs' names then the people. I've seen some people quit after a month, and nobody stays longer than a year or two. But some of these dogs have been coming here for years. They're more familiar to me," Mira told John.

After letting the two dogs sniff each other a bit longer, the two parted.

_I liked him_.

Mira tried not to react to the voice in her head. She didn't hear the dogs very often, most of the time she'd just receive feelings or images that the dog was thinking. But every once in a while, a dog would say something. That's how she knew Spud's name. She wasn't asking John what his name was, she was asking the dog. But John didn't know, and it worked out alright. And it made her job easier.

"Spud's a good dog. I'll see if you can play ball with him today, okay?" Mira told Titan.

Titan wagged his tail.

The gift worked both ways. While dogs could understand the tone of human voices, they seemed to understand Mira's words exactly. That made things very easy. Not only did it give her an advantage over the other employees, but the owners of the dogs could see that their dogs were calmer and more obedient around her. They requested her, and often would come during her shifts for advice. She was also a trainer, and her classes were always packed and had a waiting list.

She didn't keep her ability a secret, in fact the more people gossiped about her the more the seemed to respect her. She's been called many names, "pet psychic" "dog whisperer" and other mysterious names. The local paper wrote about her and the New Jersey newscasters interviewed her a few times. She didn't think it was a big deal, but she never tried to truly cash in on her gift like those other pet psychics. She wasn't that kind of person.

Mira smiled, and thought that if she wanted to, she could easily continue living this way. She was making good money on her own with her gift. If she wanted to, she could make even more solely as a trainer. But she didn't want to. As much as she loved this job, she had other dreams. It was nice that she had something to fall back on, but there was more to life than working with dogs.

As she put Titan in a kennel and made sure he had plenty of water, she thought about what she had to look forward to in the afternoon. In just a few hours, she'd leave Trenton, New Jersey in her parents car that she had borrowed for the day, and head out to New York City. This was her chance of a life time to get to her dreams. If everything went according to plan.

* * *

The cano-mutants finished unloading the equipment from the professor's lab into the main room of the large base. Parvo rubbed his hands as he examined a few of the larger samples.

"This is good. This is really good," he said, and opened up the circuit board of one of the machines. "I can see the similarities between his and Shepherd's work. If only I had enough time to study them, I could probably figure out how they work."

"Don't you have enough time, General?" Groomer asked with a concerned look.

"I doubt it," Parvo muttered. "We moved so quickly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Road Rovers are able to follow us. I won't underestimate Shepherd's pets again."

"Then what should we do?"

Parvo twisted one side of his long mustache. "It'll be impossible to find Prof Patel now, and I doubt he'll try to negotiate his dog back. . ." Parvo muttered to himself. As he thought, his eyes moved to the scientist's dog who was tied up in a corner and pulling on his leash. "The dog. . .," he muttered. "That dog has a raised IQ. If Patel kept him around during his experiments, the dog would know which machine does what."

Dash suddenly looked at the large man, and moved further away as if trying to be unseen.

"That's a lot for a dog to remember," Groomer argued politely. "This is high tech equipment. Not to mention, some of it must have security codes."

"He doesn't need to remember everything. Just the device that the professor used on him." Parvo smiled darkly down at Dash, watching the dog shirk under his scrutiny. "I think he does. You know what I'm talking about."

Groomer did not like to contradict the General's plan, but she had to. "Then how will we get the information from him? Turning him into a cano-mutant would be a bad idea. There's no telling how his already enhanced DNA would react to the machine."

"You're right," Parvo said, and moved to the computer console. "But lucky for us, I have an abundance of research at our disposal. I've been keeping track of certain individuals that have shown. . . rare abilities that can be of use to me." He looked through his folders and finally pulled out a data file. The file revealed a picture of a young woman with black hair, green eyes and dark complexion. Next to her picture was a column of data, including her name, address, and where she worked. She was the closest to their base.

"This girl is the one I need. You are to bring her to me, Groomer. Unharmed," Parvo ordered as he printed out the information. "And you are to do it quickly. We can't waste any time."

Groomer took the printout and saluted. "Aye, General. I'll do as you ask."

* * *

Mira looked at her watch for the nth time that day. It was almost time for her to clock out. She finished grooming the dog she was working on before taking it back to its kennel. Then she'd clean up and get out of there.

"Hey, shouldn't you be leaving here, girl," an older woman called to Mira.

"I'm just finishing up, then I'm gone," Mira called back, pulling the dog with her.

"Well, good luck. We're all rooting for you," the woman called again before disappearing down the hall.

Mira could feel her heart pumping faster as she moved the dog she was working on back to its kennel. Then she went to the locker room to change into her dance clothes.

This was it. A chance to live her dream. In a few hours, she'd be in the outskirts of New York City. The dance studio she was trying out in wasn't too deep into the city, which she was grateful for.

Once dressed, she moved to the mirror had started putting on make-up. Because of her darker skin and distant Asian blood, she did look a few years younger than her twenty-one years. If she put on her old school uniform, she could pass as seventeen, maybe sixteen, but that would be a stretch. She was sure this was one of the reasons she made it to second call on the dance audition. She wasn't very tall like most of the dancers, but she made that up in skill. She had been dancing since she was three years old, and took every kind of class there was. She knew ballet, hip hop, ballroom, salsa and everything in-between. And she was sure her ethnic features didn't hurt her chances as well. Most directors now a-days were afraid of hiring a mostly white dance line for fear of being criticized, but now tried to have a wide variety of skin colors. Even if that was the only reason for her making it to the top, she'd take it. Finally she brushed her hair and pulled it back. She added some gel to make sure some of the smaller strands didn't fall out into her face, and made her hair shinier. She then applied make up, hiding some of her adolescent blemishes before putting her make-up away.

Finally, the last thing she did was take out her hearing aid. She looked at it, using tissue to wipe it off even if she had just cleaned it last night. She checked the batter, even though she replace it recently. She wanted to make sure everything was perfect. If her hearing aid stopped working, she wouldn't be able to hear the music very well. And without music, she couldn't dance with the beat. Her hearing aid was the most important thing right now, so she gave it more attention to it than to her looks. She had hearing troubles all her life, and didn't know a time without the hearing aid. As time went on, her hearing grew worse and worse. Eventually, the doctors told her she would become permanently deaf. That could happen in twenty years or two. If she was going to live through her dreams, now was the time. She had to act now.

She loved to dance, and did not look forward to the time when she'd loose her hearing altogether. What would she do then? Her entire life would change. It didn't bother her that she wouldn't be able to talk the same way with her friends and family. It didn't bother her that her job might have to change, even though she was sure she could still hear dog's thoughts. It didn't even bother her that she might have to learn sign language. But it was devastating to think that without her hearing, dancing would not be the same.

She took one more look at herself in the mirror, and nodded as what she saw before putting her hearing aid back into her ear. She worse jeans and a jacket over her dancing clothes so she wouldn't look strange as she walked out. She picked up her work clothes and shoved them into her bag, took her keys, and headed out the door. She said good-bye to a few co-workers, smiling as they told her good luck before heading out the door.

As she revved up her parent's Civic that she borrowed for this one day, she was so preoccupied with getting to New York that she didn't notice a black car with a black haired woman in sunglasses watching her, and following her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

Hunter, Blitz and Exile stood outside a wooden cabin in a small grove of trees. From the secret passageway, they followed the scent of Prof. Patel out from the man hole cover, across several blocks to a bus station. They believed that he would have bought a bus ticket, but after asking the ticket counter they learned that no one of Prof. Patel's description bought a ticket anywhere. They had been stumped, not knowing why the professor would come to a bus station and not take a bus. It was only after asking around did they found a police officer remember seeing the professor. After shaking off the shock of speaking to talking dogs, he told the Road Rovers that Patel had taken a taxi from the station. It seemed like the professor knew how to give pursuers the slip, and left them a dead end.

As they wondered what to do next, Exile went onto the Rover computer system in the street rover to find out if the professor had any relatives nearby or bought any property. He didn't have any luck since most of Patel's family was in India, and he lived in a one bed-room apartment in the city. However, he had a last minute inspiration, and looked up property rights under the name of Dash. There was one hit, a few acres in a forested area a few hours out of town. And that's how they found the cabin.

"Now remember, Rovers. If Patel is in there, he may not realize that we're the good guys," Hunter told the two other dogs. "Be good dogs. No heat rays, ice beams or biting."

"Okie-pokie," Exile told his leader.

"Not even a little biting?" Blitz asked with ears down.

"No, not even a nibble," Hunter told Blitz. "Well, maybe a little if he offers us a treat or a chew toy, then you can."

Hunter led the way toward the cabin with his hands up above his head. When he was a few yards away, he called out, "Professor Patel. If you are in there, we'd like to talk to you. We come in peace."

There was the sound of glass shattering, and then some gun shots.

The Rovers fell to the ground to avoid getting shot.

"We may come in peace, but he is not," Blitz told Hunter.

"Yeah, we're waggin' our tails, but he still thinks we're from Parvo," Hunter agreed. "How can we show him we're on his side?"

"We show him yellow flag?" Exile suggested.

"Um. . .I guess," Hunter murmured. Then his eyes widened as he thought of something. "Professor Patel, please stop," he shouted. "We're sent here from Professor Shepherd. He sent us to find and protect you."

The shooting stopped.

"What do you know of Professor Shepherd?" Patel shouted from the cabin.

"We're the Road Rovers. We're the good guys," Blitz shouted, and whined from his place on the ground.

"I don't believe you," the professor yelled from the broken window. "You're one of those dog freaks that Parvo had with him."

The Road Rovers dodged a few more bullets before they yelled their complaints.

"Now that was just uncalled for."

"I won't even bit his tooshie even if he paid me."

"He is big stupid headsky."

However, their protests only made the professor shoot more lead at them. The cano-sapiens finally retreated back behind their vehicle for protection.

"What are we going to do, comrade? He is in there tighter than Fort Blocks," Exile told his leader.

Hunter smiled at the husky. "I would love to see you try to get a green card," he said.

Exile scratched his head. "What does this have to do with football?"

Before anyone could say another word, a ringing noise stopped them. The three cano-sapiens looked up, and saw the phone in the speed rover was ringing. Hunter reached out and picked it up.

"Road Rover's hotline, this is Hunter speaking," the golden retriever said with an upbeat tone before dodging yet another bullet aimed at his head.

"I'm sorry. Did I call at a bad time?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Nah, Colleen. We're just hanging out, and waiting for Prof Patel to run out of bullets," Hunter told her.

"Oh, good. Listen, we analyzed the dirt we found at the University. Apparently it comes from only one spot. The area around Niagra Falls," Colleen said.

"Wait a minute," Hunter said, looking serious. "USA or Canada side?"

"Um, does it matter?"

"Yeah, it does. I left my passport at home."

"Well, you're sneaking across the border, mate. Shag's done some research, and apparently a lot of reports of large dog-like creatures around Ontario. I'm betting that Parvo has his base somewhere nearby."

"Of course. We'd never suspect he'd go there."

"We'll swing by to pick you up, Huntie. Be there before tea."

"We still have a situation here, so no rush." Just before Hunter put the phone back in the car, he thought of something. "Hey, Colleen. Can you put The Master on the phone?"

"Here he is."

There was a pause in the conversation.

"Hello?"

"Master, you said that you were once colleagues with Prof Patel."

"Yes, I did."

"You may be the only one to persuade him that we're the good guys," Hunter told the Master. "He doesn't believe that we're here to help him."

"Pleeeeaaaassse," Blitz whined as he shoved his snout near the phone. "I like myself the way it is, without holes."

"I'm with weird boy," Exile spoke loudly. "We don't want to be hurting him or ourselves."

There was a slight pause on the phone. "Yes, I'll talk to him. If you could just get the phone to him."

"Can do, Master," Hunter said, and took off with lightning speed leaving behind a trail of flames. Not even a second later, Hunter was in the cabin right behind Patel. Without making a sound, he put the phone on the floor and ran out back behind the speed rover.

From their place of safety, the three cano-sapiens heard the phone ring a few times before it stopped.

"Why didn't you run in there and stop him? You're fast enough you could have taken his gun," Blitz told Hunter with an angry look.

Hunter shrugged. "He's not the bad guy here. He's obviously scared of us, so I didn't want to do anything that would make him fight back. He's more likely to hurt himself than one of us."

Blitz was about to snap a retort when the cabin door swung open. The professor slowly came out of the cabin with weary eyes on the Road Rovers, his gun still in hand. The cano-sapiens huddled behind their vehicle in case the human started shooting them again.

"You're the Road Rovers?" the professor asked in a raspy tone, the glare in his eyes suggested that he'd know if they were lying.

"We are," Hunter told him, and Blitz and Exile nodded.

"Prof Shepherd, he said you'd help me," Patel said, looking down at the phone in his other hand.

"Da, we here to protect you," Exile confirmed.

"I don't want protecting," Patel almost shouted, and cleared his throat. "I want you to help me get my dog back." He raised the gun up to point at them. "Now."

* * *

The Groomer thought of taking the woman captive soon after they both left the city, but since they were heading closer to the base, she took her time. She placed a bug in the woman's car before she went in, and wanted to know about this woman. Why did her General want her? What did she have that he wanted?

At first guess, she wondered if Parvo thought her skills as a dog trainer would work, but that didn't make any sense. The transdogmafier made the cano-mutants completely obedient and loyal to Parvo, so why would he need a dog trainer? And it didn't matter how good the dog trainer was, she still couldn't make a dog talk.

Groomer went into the business for a while to get a good look at the girl, and immediately dismissed any ideas of jealousy on her part. She knew that they both weren't going to win any beauty pageants, but this Mira looked frumpy and unkempt. But once the young woman had walked out of the door with hair pulled back and make-up on, she looked different, pretty. And that's when Groomer's thoughts turned in a whole different direction.

Did General Parvo had any hidden motives for wanting this girl? She was exotic to look at with her darker skin and had a great body. Not to mention, she was far younger than the Groomer.

Groomer shook her head to clear away these thoughts. No, her General wasn't like that. He had his eyes set on one thing, and that was the world. He didn't look at any other woman but her. And she would make sure of that.

Mira's car took an exit onto another highway, and Groomer checked her GPS. They were now heading away from the base. She had to act now.

Stepping on the gas, the Groomer zoomed forward until she was side-by-side with the civic. Then she sharply turned her wheel and ran her car into the other one, forcing both of them onto the right shoulder. She saw the civic immediately slow down and stop. The Groomer did the same.

"I'm so terribly sorry," the Groomer said as she jumped out of the car. "I fell asleep at the wheel. Are you alright?"

The other woman's eyes were very large, and she was breathing heavily, clenching the wheel. After a moment, she stepped out of the car too. "Yeah, I think I'm alright. Fetch, my parents are going to kill me. This is their car."

"Oh my," the Groomer feigned shock. "But it was my fault. Let me give you my insurance information, and we'll get this fixed up."

The Groomer's soothing words made the other woman calm down a bit, and she followed the older woman. "Yes, let me find my insurance as well." She went back into her car, and grabbed the certificate before following the Groomer to her car. She was holding her head with one hand as she did.

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" the Groomer asked with a false look of concern. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Mira shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Just a head ache from being jostled. I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry. I have an appointment to keep."

The were right outside of the Groomer's open door. "That is a shame that you're going to miss it," she said her voice changing.

"What?" Mira asked, giving the older woman a strange look before the older woman's hand hit the tender spot between the neck and shoulder, rendering Mira unconscious.

As the other woman slumped, Groomer caught the dead weight, and quickly pushed the body into the car. She looked around quickly to see if anyone else noticed, and then slid in after Mira. She quickly pulled back into traffic, and then pulled off the first exit to find an empty road. There, she would summon her aircraft to pick her up along with the targe,t and head back to base.

The General will be pleased.


	2. Chapter 2: Speak

Half-Breed

Chapter Two: Speak

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

"Hallo, gents. And welcome to Road Rover Air," Colleen announced with a big smile as she opened the door for her three companions. She didn't stop smiling even when a human pushed past the other Road Rovers, and stuck a shotgun in her face. "Lovely to see you, professor. Glad you could join us."

"Get in the plane. All of you," Prof Patel ordered as he ushered the cano-sapiens in with his gun. "And no funny business."

"Funny business? Us?" Colleen asked shocked. "Never."

"We told you, professor. You don't need to force us," Hunter told the human. "We'll help you get your dog back. That's what we do."

As Colleen followed Hunter to the pilot seats, she said, "Oh, poor bloke. He just misses his doggy," Then she looked at the gun again. "Then again, poor us."

"You said you knew where Dash is. Take me to him," Patel said in a raspy voice, and pointed the gun at Hunter.

"Sir, we have a general idea of where Parvo has taken your dog, and we'll find it a lot sooner if you'd put the gun down," Hunter told Patel with a serious look.

The professor looked as if he were analyzing the Road Rovers, and then lowered the gun. He then sat down in one of the seats in the plane, but kept the gun on his lap.

"Thank you," Hunter said as he started the plane up. "You're going to have to trust us. Don't you trust Prof. Shepherd?"

"I have not seen Shepherd in almost three years. How do I know that Parvo isn't using him to get to me?" Patel asked Hunter, his eyes suspicious of all the Road Rovers. "I don't trust any of you, but it seems I don't have a choice if I want to get Dash back."

It was obvious that the professor still had intentions of using the gun if he felt it was needed.

The Sky Rover was the quietest it had ever been with all the Rovers inside, all of them feeling the tension from the professor's threat. Hunter piloted and Colleen navigated without their usual bantering. Blitz kept his complaints and ego to himself. Shag and Exile was at the back working quietly as they searched for Parvo's exact coordinates.

"Good news, comrades," Exile spoke suddenly as he took some ear phones off. "News just reported sighting of big dog monster. They tracked it until it disappeared. My guessing is that Parvo's base is there. I'm sending you coordinates now."

"Good dog, Exile," Hunter complimented, and looked at the information Exile was sending him. "We're almost there, Professor."

Patel didn't say a word, but his mind was churning. He was wondering just how much he believed of these Road Rovers. It was definitely Shepherd on the phone, but whose side was he on? If they were all working with Parvo, then he wasn't walking into a trap, he was in one. But if they were working with Parvo, why didn't they just take away his gun now? They could easily overwhelm him. Not to mention, why would they go through this whole act of trying to find Parvo? The more and more he saw, the more he believed these talking dogs. But there was always a hint of doubt that stayed in his mind. He couldn't take the chance that he was wrong. He had to take precautions.

"Rah rah rarara rahrah raaahh," Shag spoke up from his computer console.

"Shag says that our sensors have picked up with our equipment a large mass of metal underneath the earth nearby," Hunter said for the benefit of the professor. "That must be Parvo's base. We'll land here to avoid detection."

The Rover's plane landed in a clearing about a mile from the coordinates that Exile gave Hunter. As the plane shut down with low whirls and clicks, the Rovers stood up and gathered what they needed for the rescue mission.

"I don't suppose you'd listen if I asked you to stay here, Professor?" Hunter asked with a frown.

Patel raised his shotgun. "No."

"I thought so," Hunter said with a sigh. "Let's move out, Rovers."

* * *

Cold water splashed down on her, and Mira sputtered as she tried to breathe without inhaling any of the liquid. She raised her hands to rub her face, but for some reason, they couldn't move. After thrashing a bit, she felt her head and neck ache and laid back down with a moan. All she wanted was to sleep some more until the pain went away, even though she was wet.

"Wake up. Come on. Get up now," an Irish woman's voice said harshly.

The voice sounded familiar to Mira, but her memory was a bit foggy. She was going to ignore the voice until a hand slapped her face a few times. She shot up into a sitting position with wide green eyes. Fully expecting to see her own bedroom, she was shaken to find herself in a lab of some sort with a tall dark-haired woman, and a large man with a long, blond mustache and a mechanical right hand. Something about the woman looked familiar as well, and realized it was the woman from the car that hit her. She pulled at her hands, but she found they were tied securely behind her back. Her sense for danger was now flashing red, and she shirked back.

"Who are you?" she tried to yell, but her voice was raspy from choking on the water.

"Quiet," the man ordered. "We'll ask, you answer. The less you know, the better."

Mira's eyes widened even wider. This sounded like a scene from a spy movie. And she was the hapless victim whom they're going to torture for information. But that didn't sound right because she was just a normal civilian that didn't know anything. What would they want from her?

The man waved his hand, and a hideous dog monster came through a doorway dragging a dog of an indistinguishable breed in on a leash. Mira pushed herself back at the sight of the monster. Thoughts of old monster or mad scientist experiment movies flashed into her mind.

_This can't be real? What is this place? And why did they want me? _she cried in her mind. She really wished she could bury her face into her arms for a while and pretend this wasn't happening. But she couldn't. Even as she closed her eyes to block out the sight, she could feel anger and fear radiating from the dog on the leash, and a cacophony of feelings and images from the monster. She opened her eyes again when the man spoke to her.

The man pointed at the dog that strained on the leash. "This dog has information that we need. I need you to read its thoughts. Or else."

Because of the threat, Mira nearly choked on her next words. "I can't read dog's minds," she told him.

"Don't lie to me," the man shouted at her, and thumped his mechanical hand against the lab table next to Mira's legs leaving behind a large dent. "I know about your special abilities."

Mira felt like crying, but bit back the tears. She wasn't going to give this guy the satisfaction of intimidating her. "But I can't read dog's minds," Mira tried again. "I can sense what they are feeling and thinking, but it's mainly images. Very rarely do I actually hear words." Mira glared at the man after her explanation. If she could ignore the dog monster, she felt a little braver.

The man looked as if he were weighing her words for truth, but matched her glare. Finally he grabbed her arm as quickly as a snake strike, and pulled her closer to him. "Then you better persuade that dog to talk to you, because if you don't, it'll be your loss."

Mira felt a chill run down her spine. She was so shocked by the man's cold words that she was barely able to land on her feet as the man pushed her toward the growling dog and the dog monster. She was close enough to really see how big the monster was, and was scared. She'd never been attacked by a dog before, even the aggressive ones. She could usually sooth them with her own thoughts, and easily make friends. But this dog monster was immune to her placating thoughts. Never had she saw such mixed-up and chaotic images before.

Before she lost all of her nerves, she focused on the dog on the leash. "It's alright, boy. It's okay. I'm a friend. I'm not here to hurt you," Mira whispered as she sank to her knees the best she could without her hands. She didn't try getting closer to the dog, but just thought calming thoughts. "I'm just like you. They captured me and brought me here against my will. I'm a prisoner too."

She felt a sense of sympathy come from the dog as it locked eyes on her. The dog looked waywardly at the dog-monster before walking toward Mira while trying to stay as far away from the monster as possible. He practically crawled the last steps to Mira, anxious for a friendly hand and warm thoughts.

"It's going to be okay," Mira whispered to him, and bowed her head closer to the dog. He lifted his nose to smell her face. "What's your name?"

The image of the dog running quickly across grass to catch a frisbee came into her mind, and the dog wagged his tail.

"Dash," she repeated the name she heard from the dog. The dog moved closer, practically in her lap with his head nuzzled against her stomach. "My name is Mira, Dash. What kind of information could they get from a dog?" she asked more to herself than to Dash.

_These people are dangerous_.

Mira gasped softly when she heard the voice enter her mind so clear and strong. She never heard anything so vocal from a dog.

_Let me show you._

Mira's mind was bombarded with images from Dash's memories. She saw Dash's master talking to two shadowy figures that looked a lot like her captors through his eyes, and could smell what he smelled. She saw him running toward his master, the two of them escaping with the scent of fear hung in the air. She saw Dash's master find the hidden door, and escape through it while Dash stayed behind to fight monsters that smelled like dogs, but didn't exactly smell right.

She gasped again when the images stopped abruptly, and Dash licked her check with concern.

"I said, ask the dog where his master is," the man shouted at her impatiently.

Mira wondered how many times her captor had spoken to her while Dash had been showing her his memories. She repeated the question to the dog.

Dash tilted his head to one side and imagined a question mark.

"He doesn't know where his master is," Mira said, her voice a little shaky. "He stayed to fight some monsters to let him escape."

Dash wagged his tail. _I'm a good dog._

"Are you sure?" the man asked with a growl to his tone.

"Yes, I could tell if the dog was lying," Mira said in a strong voice. _Probably,_ she thought to herself. _This is all new to me too_.

The man growled angrily as he grabbed Mira's arm and pulled her to her feet. Without any more explanation, he pulled her further into the lab. "Bring the dog."

Mira heard the loud stomping of heavy feet and heard Dash whine as he was pulled by his neck. She was about to tell them to be careful with Dash, when she was pushed by the man. This new part of the lab was very cluttered with strange machines and gadgets.

"Ask the dog which one of these the professor used on him," the man demanded as he pulled Mira close to his face.

Mira tried not to show how much pain she was in as the man jerked her around, and the ropes chaffed her wrists. She nodded without a sound so that the man would let her go. No sooner was she looking at Dash then the dog lowered his head as if ashamed.

_I know. But I won't say_, his thoughts invaded her mind.

"He won't say," Mira told the man.

"Make him. Go into his mind," the man demanded.

Mira shirked back. "I can't."

"Do it!"

"I can't. I don't know how. All I've been able to do is just listen in. He won't tell me," she shouted at the man. She saw the man's hand lift up as if to strike her, and she flinched in reaction.

"General, please. The girl is telling the truth," the woman said to stop the man's hand. "Maybe I can persuade the dog into talking."

"How, Groomer?" the man asked.

The woman smiled darkly, her full lips looking like a cat left alone with the canary. "Let me show you, General." She walked over to a table, and picked up a long whip. She gestured for the dog monster to bring Dash closer.

Mira didn't dare open her eyes as she waited for a blow to land on her, but she looked up at the first crack of the whip, and her fear drew back when she heard Dash whine. Anger surged through her blood as she saw Groomer raise the whip again and strike the dog. She started to charge the woman when strong arms grabbed her from behind, and kept her back.

"NO!" Mira shouted, pulling against the General's grip. "Stop it! Stop it! He doesn't know anything," she shouted the lie. "He says he doesn't know."

"I don't believe you," the general whispered in her ear. "If you want Groomer to stop, then persuade him to talk."

Mira bowed her head as tears came to her eyes. She didn't want to see the whip slice through fur and flesh, but she couldn't stop her ears from hearing it. For once, she wished she didn't have her hearing aide. She wished she was deaf and couldn't hear those horrible noises. The whip made such an awful crack, and Dash's yelps tore at her heart.

"Tell them," Mira sobbed to Dash. "Please, tell me what they want. Please." Mira tried to push her ability further and pry into the dog's mind, but it was beyond her. She couldn't do it.

_No,_ Dash's thoughts came to her. _I won't let them have Ravi's work._

"He won't talk!" Mira shouted, her voice cracking. "He'll die before he'll say anything."

"Stop it, Groomer," the general ordered in his gravelly voice. "That's enough."

The Groomer stepped back, pulling her whip with her.

Mira looked up, and saw Dash on the ground trembling, panting heavily. Slices of fur were hanging off his pelt, and blood flowed where the whip cut the skin.

"I've forgotten the loyalty a dog will have for his master," the general said, and let go of Mira, who only sank to her knees. "This dog doesn't value his life enough to talk. But he may value someone else's."

Mira was shaking from the pain that Dash felt. Dash's pain was too great, and she couldn't turn her gift off. The dog's suffering was in her mind now, even if she didn't feel his pain.

Boots stopped right in front of her face, and she looked up to see the Groomer standing with the whip ready in her hand. Mira realized that she was now in danger, and wasn't going to take it lying down. She tried to ready herself to run or fight, but the bonds on her wrists prevented her from doing anything quickly as the first blow fell on her back. It stung like nothing else she had ever felt, and tried to get away despite the pain. But another blow hit the back of her legs, and she fell back onto the ground, helpless to do anything but lay there and take the whip.

Through the pain, she saw something in her mind. The image of one of the devices in the lab. _That is what they're looking for. Tell them._

As much as Mira would like the pain to stop, she also thought about Dash. He went through this same thing for that man she saw in his memories. Ravi. He did it for someone special, and was willing to die for it. She admired that. That little dog who looked like a mutt off the street was so loyal that he showed a strength that his little body hid away. How could she give in after that display of self-sacrifice?

Mira took the punishment with a clenched mouth. She was determined to not make a single noise even if Groomer beat her until she blackened out. After a while, she could no longer hear the cracking of the whip. But she knew it wasn't over because of the sting against her flesh.

"Stop, for a moment," the general ordered, and the Groomer held back. The large man bent down to whisper in Mira's ear. "You know, don't you? Tell me."

Mira looked up once the whip had stopped, and saw the man lean over her. His lips moved, but she couldn't hear anything but a buzzing noise.

_My hearing aid must have fallen out_, Mira thought. She almost laughed out loud at the thought she couldn't hear what the horrible man wanted from her. When the man stopped talking, she decided to answer him the best she could. She spat in his face with a glowering look.

The Groomer was angrier at the younger woman for that then the General was. "I'll teach you to disrespect Parvo," she shouted, and raised her whip. She threw all her strength into a few thrashes before General Parvo grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Look," he said, and nodded behind her.

The Groomer turned around to see Dash standing on three shaky legs while he kept his left forefoot up, and limped to the lab table. Slowly, he lifted his front paws onto the table, and picked up a small device in his jaws. He whined as he dropped back to the ground, and then set the device on the floor.

After leaving the device, Dash limped over to where Mira lay in pain, ignoring the other two humans. Without a thick coat of fur on, the whip cut into her skin much easier than it did Dash, and blood flowed. Even with her clothes weren't enough protection, but the lacerations were smaller. Dash whined softly and apologetically.

Mira rolled over to her other side with difficulty from her tied hands. "It's alright," she whispered to the dog. "I choose not to tell them."

_Are you mad at me?_ Dash asked like a little child, his head hung low and submissive.

"No, you did what you thought was best, Dash," Mira said, and she couldn't stop the tears flowing at her pain and seeing the small dog bleeding as well. "You're master would be proud of you. You're a very good boy. Good boy."

Dash sighed, and lay down in an exhausted way as close to Mira as he could manage, with his head on top of the human girl's.

Mira didn't mind, and let herself finish crying into Dash's fur, finding comfort in the familiar scent of dog.

On the other side of the lab, General Parvo smiled darkly, and not just because he had what he wanted. That grey mutt had looked at him like no other dog ever had. In those canine eyes was an intelligence that wasn't found in any normal dog. The cur might even be as smart as the Road Rovers. The professor knew what he was doing. Parvo walked over, and snatched the device. He looked it over, and didn't think much of it. Out of the rest of the equipment, it looked unimpressive. It was round and flat like a very thick frisbee. There were a few buttons, and a glass lense at the bottom; a very simple design.

"Now all we need to do is synchronize this with the transdogmafier, and we'll be able to make an army of more intelligent and loyal cano-mutants," Parvo said with satisfaction.

"Oh, General," Groomer said in a soothing voice. "You're one step closer."

"And once we finished the machine, I want that dog to be the first to be transdogmafied," Parvo said, not noticing that Dash had limped away.

"The professor's dog? Of course. He'll be a good soldier," the Groomer agreed. "But what should we do with the girl? She knows too much about us."

"We'll keep her here," the general grunted. "I want to study her ability further."

The Groomer didn't look too happy about that, but didn't question her general's words.

Before either one could do anything further, red lights flashed on and off, and a loud alarm rang through the lab.

"There' an intruder in the base, General," Groomer shouted over the alarms.

Parvo's eyebrows lowered in a loathing frown. "Road Rovers."

* * *

"Okay, who tripped the alarm?" Hunter asked, looking at his team while the red lights flashed all around them.

Each Road Rover looked all around.

"Whoopsky," Exile said with a sheepish grin as he looked down at his feet. A thin beam of red was interrupted by his boot. "I am thinking we won't be surprise attacking today."

"Darn it, and I love surprises," Colleen said with disappointment.

"Well, let's see if we can still give a few to Parvo," Hunter told them. "Let's split up. Professor, come with Shag and me. We'll head straight to the lab. You other three go around the back. We'll come at them on two sides. How's that for a surprise?"

As the two groups split, Hunter moved closer to Shag. "Shag, I'm going to need you to do something for me. If things get hairy. . ."

"Rah rha rhaaa rah."

"It's just an expression, buddy. If things start to look bad, we're grabbing the professor and high tailing it out of there. Understand."

Shag saluted with his tongue sticking out.

"Good dog."

* * *

"What do we do, General?" Groomer asked, looking to him for guidance.

"I'll direct the cano-mutants to carry as much of the equipment as they can. You take the device," Parvo said, and threw the device to the Groomer, "and set up the base to self-destruct in ten minutes. Meet me at the ship. If we leave fast enough, maybe we can give Shepherd's pets a surprise."

"Aye, General," the woman said, and went off to do as she was told.

Once the humans were gone, Dash looked up from where he lay. He knew that if he didn't act now, he wouldn't have another chance to get the girl and himself out of there. He stood up on his three good legs, and limped behind Mira.

"What are you doing?" Mira asked, and turned to look at the dog. She saw an image of Dash chewing through the ropes on her wrists, and held still for Dash. She felt teeth brush past her skin, and saliva run down her fingers. Dash growled a little as he tugged and gnawed at the fibers. It didn't take long before Mira felt the restraints go slack, and she pulled her hands free so she could rub the raw flesh.

_Go. Go now_.

"What about your masters work?" Mira asked, looking at the remaining machines.

_Useless. They don't work_, Dash told her. _The only thing that worked, the woman took._

"Then let's get it back," Mira told Dash, and stood up uneasily. She heard the dog whine in protest. "I'm fine. Let's get that device back." And as Mira walked in pain, she glared in front of her. After what Dash had gone through, she was determined to keep that thing out of the wrong hands, and pay that woman back.

* * *

"Locked," Patel spat out as they came to the first door. The professor had been the one to set a quick pace, and led the group despite Hunter's words. Patel didn't listen to anything, but was driven to do what he wanted. He lifted his shotgun to the lock, and fired.

Everyone in the group ducked as the bullet hit metal, and ricocheted away.

Patel grabbed the handle again, and pulled, but the door didn't budge.

"It seems, professor," Hunter told the human with a smile as he pushed him away, "that you need to use a bigger gun."

Prof. Patel took a large step back as the sheepdog pulled a bazooka from his long fur coat, and aimed it at the door.

"Fire in the hole!" Hunter shouted, and plugged up his ears.

After a loud explosion, the air was filled with smoke and dust. Coughing, the professor didn't say anything as he stepped through the gapping hole where the door used to be. When he was in an area where he could see, he lifted up his gun and scanned what appeared to be a lab. At the time, nobody was in it, but then a pair of large cano-mutants stepped through a doorway. Patel raised his shotgun to fire.

Hunter quickly snatched the gun from the humans hands. "I'm sorry to do this, professor. But we're dogitarians," he told the professor. Then he raised his own gun, and aimed at the cano-mutants.

As the modified pitbull and poodle came at their targets snarling, a tennis ball hit them each in the head going faster than a mechanical pitcher could throw. The cano-mutants stayed on their feet only a second as their brains shut down to unconsciousness.

"Despite what you've seen, these dogs are innocent," Hunter told the human, his voice lower than before. He tossed Prof. Patel's gun to Shag, who bent it into a shape that made it worthless.

Prof. Patel looked shock at first, but then angry. "That's not the best way to persuade me you're on my side."

"That wasn't really my intent, professor," Hunter told the human. "My team is risking their lives for your dog. Please cooperate with us for now."

Patel paused to consider this, but didn't get to answer before a laser fired above his head, missing his temple by a few feet. Hunter immediately tackled Patel to the ground, and covered both their heads from the flying debris.

"Well, I didn't expect you to be with the Road Rovers, professor," a deep voice called from a place they couldn't see from the ground. "The Road Rovers saved me the trouble of hunting you down."

"Parvo, you slime," Patel shouted from the ground. "Give me back my dog."

"You'll be reunited with your precious pet in a minute," Parvos said from his hiding place, and lined his sight up with the wall nearest the place he saw the Road Rovers fell. He kept his finger on the trigger, and waited for a head to pop up. "Just as soon as I take care of Shepherd's mutts."

* * *

Mira stumbled down the hallway, breathing heavy. She saw Dash bark at her from a distance, but didn't hear the noise. She almost laughed at how vulnerable she was with so much blood loss and practically deaf. How was she suppose to get the drop on that woman?

"Shhhh, Dash," Mira said, and hoped she said it softly. "We have to be quiet."

_She's close-by. I can smell her_.

"Where?"

Dash put his nose to the ground, and sniffed further down the hallway. Mira leaned against the metallic wall to rest a while. She watched as Dash smelled around for a while, and then stopped outside a door.

_Here._

Mira walked forward, trying to be as quiet as possible. But it was so hard to know how quiet you were if you couldn't hear your own footsteps. She tried to slow her breathing down the closer she came to the door.

_Her back is turned to us, _Dash helped out.

Mira peeked in, and saw the black and red back of the woman. She was leaning over a computer console and typing something. The device was on the console just a few inches from her hand. Mira withdrew her head again. She couldn't do this alone, not without a weapon. She looked down at Dash, and thought that he would have to do. She had never tried sending an image to a dog before, but she concentrated as hard as she could the picture of Dash running in and biting the woman's ankles.

Dash didn't react to Mira's attempt to communicate with her telepathically, so she figured that she was the lamest psychic in the world. Instead, she crouched down and whispered in the dog's ear her plan. Dash responded to Mira's instructions with eagerness to obey.

In a sudden move, Mira ran into the room without a word, hoping the catch the woman off guard. Dash was faster, even with his injured paw. He leapt at Groomer, and sank his teeth into her leg with a vicious growl.

Groomer howled in pain, and turned to see what had attacked her. However, she met with a fist directed at her left eye, knocking her off her feet.

Mira didn't believe one hit would do, and kicked the woman in the stomach for good measure. She then grabbed the device, and ran away while calling Dash. Together, the two ran away.

Groomer bit back the pain, and quickly rose to her feet with a hand on her stomach. She first noticed that the device was gone, and then looked at the console. The count-down for the base to self-destruct had already started. She snarled, and reached to her side for her laser gun. It didn't matter if the General wanted to use the girl, she'd be in more trouble if she lost the device. She ran out of the room, and saw the girl and the dog still running down the hall. They didn't move very fast with their injuries impeded their movements. Good news for her. She took aim with her gun, and shot at them. But she missed as they dodged down another hallway.

"It's the Groomer," a voice shouted from behind.

Groomer looked back, and cursed her bad luck. "Road Rovers," she spat, and raced down the hallway after Mira and Dash. This wasn't going as well as she planned.

Colleen, Blitz and Exile started running after the Irish woman after they caught sight of her. However, as they passed the room she ran out, Colleen skidded to a halt and looked in.

"Hallo, there," she said to herself, and looked around.

"This is no time for sight seeing," Exile shouted at her as he doubled back. "Groomer is getting away."

"This looks important, guys. You go ahead, I'll catch up," Colleen promised, and studied the console as the husky and doberman ran after Groomer.

* * *

"Huntie-wuntie."

As another laser fired at them, Hunter reached for the radio on his belt. "Howzit, Colleen?"

"We have some bad news here."

"That seems to happen a lot with us," Hunter said with a laugh.

"This is worse. It appears. . ." Colleen paused for a while. "Are you being shot at?"

"Yeah."

"Again."

"What can I say? I have that affect on people," Hunter admitted with his usual joking attitude.

"Anyway, it seems that this place is going to explode in roughly eight minutes. Does that just make your day or what?"

"I'll take what. Any sign of the professor's dog?"

"The Groomer was shooting at something a while ago, but I didn't get a good look. It could be him. We're chasing her now."

"If you don't find him in five minutes, get yourselves out of there," Hunter ordered. "We'll rendevous back at the ship."

"Roger."

"I told you to stop calling me that."

Colleen sighed over the radio.

From where he lay, Patel could hear the whole conversation, and he didn't look happy. "I'm not leaving without my dog."

"And we intend to leave with you both," Hunter told the man seriously. "I guarantee my team is doing their best."

"From what I've seen, maybe their best isn't good enough," Patel shot at the golden retriever. "I should never had gone with you and I should never have left my dog behind." Before Hunter could stop him, Patel stood up while waving his hand. "Parvo, I give. I'll give myself up if you let me see my dog."

"No, don't," Hunter shouted, and tried to pull the professor down, but the man stepped away from the cano-sapien.

Parvo stopped shooting at the group of three. "I guarantee, professor, that your dog is safe. I'll take you to him."

"That isn't good enough, Parvo. I want to see him first," Patel said firmly.

Parvo quickly calculated in his mind how much time he had left. If Groomer had set the self-destruct program already, that didn't give him much time. He was going to have to bluff his way out of this.

"He's already here, Professor," Parvo said, and watched the man from his hiding place. "He's been drugged, but he's fine. He's just behind those tables to your left." Parvo grinned as the professor's face showed only concern for his dog, and nothing that he suspected a trap. Parvo raised his gun to the ceiling where he kept some of his larger machine parts that he kept in storage, and aimed for the chains that held them up. The laser sliced through the metal links, and the machine parts crashed to the ground, the chaos separating the Road Rovers from the professor.

"I've forgotten how much love a master can have for his dog," Parvo said to himself with a smirk.

* * *

_She is catching up, _Dash warned.

Mira looked back, but didn't see the woman in black and red. But with her hearing aide gone, she had to rely on Dash to listen for her approached. Not only that, but neither one knew how to leave the building they were in, that is if they were in a building. Could they just randomly open up doors, and eventually find one that will lead then to freedom? And what if they were in the middle of nowhere, or even on a deserted island?

_I can smell her_, Dash told her.

Instead of continually running through hallways, Mira took a chance and opened one of the doors. It looked like yet another lab with sleek metal tables and empty animal cages. Mira swore under her breath. She had just led herself into a dead end. She moved further into the room and shut the door, hoping that she could think of a way to out smart the woman.

Mira didn't hear it, but she saw the door blow apart from a small explosion, debris hitting her. She looked up, and saw the Groomer aiming a weapon at her. The woman was saying something, but she couldn't hear a word.

_She wants the device_, Dash told her, and huddled closer to her leg. _You should give it to her, then maybe she'll let us go._

Mira almost laughed at that. _Like hell I'm going to give it to her_, Mira thought, gripping the metal in her hands. She shook her head at the Groomer emphatically, then saw the woman raise her weapon. She pulled on Dash's collar, and dodged behind a table before the woman could shoot.

_She's talking some more, and she sounds really angry,_ Dash told Mira from their hiding place.

_Maybe I can destroy this thing,_ Mira thought as she looked at the device. It was made of metal and looked pretty durable, so she couldn't just throw it or hit it with something. Then she remembered the explosion. That gun the woman had could do a lot of damage.

Mira pulled Dash closer to her and told him to keep down. Then she threw the device up in the air, and hoped the Groomer would do as she thought she would do. However, with little understanding of the device, she had no idea what would happen next. She felt the ground shake as a flash of green light blinded her. She felt pain all over her body, even worse than the whip. And then everything went dark.

* * *

The explosion knocked the Groomer flat on her back. She didn't expect the girl to throw up the device. She had been waiting to shot the girl if she lifted her head, and shot at the first thing that moved. In the end, it was a bad judgement call. As she stood up and rubbed her sore spots, she looked around. The explosion had started a few fires near some very flamable chemicals. Not to mention, she had five minutes to evacuate the building before more explosions would occur.

Looking behind her, she saw the Road Rovers coming after her. She fired a few lasers at them before retreating further into the base. She didn't have far to go to get to the aircraft. Parvo was sure to be there, and they would escape. It's too bad that she would go back empty handed, without the device, the girl and the dog. One thing she was sure of, that explosion most likely killed the two. And she could always come up with a lie about how the girl destroyed the device, giving her a scapegoat.

The three Road Rovers stopped at the junction between the room Groomer had exited and the hallway she ran down.

Colleen sniffed the air, and stopped Blitz from running after the woman.

"But I want to bite her tooshie."

"Sorry Bibsy. . ."

"It's Blitz."

". . . but I smell another dog around here. The professors dog must be in this room. He's our first priority," Colleen said. She sniffed once more. "And smoke."

"We should hurry comrades," Exile told them as he eyed the room's structure. "Soon this place go up like some day in July."

After seeing the condition of the room, Exile went in first to put out the fires with his ice vision. Blitz was right behind to help clear a pathway through the debris. Finally, they made it to the table at the far end of the room, and they saw a grey tail underneath it.

"Found him. Come on, gents, let's get this fella to safety and to his master," Colleen said, and started to lift up some of the debris. When she did, she got a good look at the owner of the tail. "Oh my kibble. I would not have seen this coming."

"That's is Hunter's line."

"I want to see."

Exile and Blitz pushed a little past Colleen to see what she had seen, and gasped in as much surprise as she was. Laying on the floor was the dog they had seen with the professor on TV. Holding him close, was a female cano-sapien with the same markings and color as the dog, dressed in human clothes and shoulder length black hair. Both of them were covered with lacerations, blood, and debris, and part of their hair was singed, most likely from whatever had caused the fire.

As the three starred, they were only brought back to reality from Colleen's communicator going off. She answered, and started talking to Hunter. Exile and Blitz half-listened to the conversation, but the cano-sapien was much more interesting.

"You don't think Parvo made her? She looks like she could be a Road Rover, not like those icky mutants he's made before," Blitz inquired.

Exile moved around to the female's side, and knelt down. "I am not knowing," he said, and brushed away some of the dark hair from her face. Then he spotted her necklace, and lifted up the heart-shaped tag. "It says 'Shadow'. Maybe he did."

"Enough chit-chat, boys," Colleen said as she put away her communicator. "We're taking these two out of here, and saving all of our tails. We've only got three minutes until kaboom."

"Oh, I get to carry the pretty girl-dog," Blitz called with a big smile.

Exile sighed and let Blitz have his way before picking up the professor's dog. Either way, he had to stomach the sight of the blood. It wasn't enough to make him faint, but he felt a little nauseous thinking about it. The professor's dog was lighter than the cano-mutant, but he felt kind of disappointed that he wasn't going to be the one to carry the female to safety. She had peeked his curiosity. There were things about her that didn't fit their assumption that she was a cano-sapien made by Parvo. He hoped that wasn't the case, then it would mean that Parvo was getting closer to the technology to make his own "Road Rovers".

* * *

Hunter saw the trap, but was too late to stop it. The machine parts crashed down only a few feet from where he and Shag lay, and cogs and bolts bounced off of their backs bruising them.

"Mi mimimi mi mimi," Shag whined from the abuse.

"Professor," Hunter shouted, and stood up to get to the human. However, once his ears peeked out, a laser came dangerously close to hitting him. He wondered if he was fast enough to outrun the laser, but he knew that the professor couldn't. "Professor, are you okay?"

He heard the human coughing from the other end of the metal. The professor seemed to be okay, but they were in a fix.

"Colleen, come in," Hunter spoke into his communicator. "We're in a fix. What's going on with you?"

"We lost track of Groomer, but we did find the professor's dog. But that's not all. Hunter, this doesn't look too good." Colleen's voice sounded very concerned. There was something very wrong.

"What is it?"

"I think you need to see this for yourself," Colleen answered.

"We don't have time. Get your team, and the dog out of here. You can tell me about it later. Just go. We'll met you back at the sky rover," Hunter ordered, and put the communicator back on his belt. "Shag, I'm going to draw Parvo's fire. You get those cano-mutants out of here. I'll try and help the professor."

"Rah rah," Shag agreed, and readied for Hunter to do his part.

The super fast dog jumped up, and ran for a place he was sure Parvo couldn't hit him. However, there was no fire. Hunter tested it again, running closer to where Parvo had fired. Still nothing.

"He's gone," Hunter said.

"Get away from me," the professor shouted.

"I think it would be best if you came with me, professor. It isn't safe here," Hunter could hear Parvo say as the professor kept shouting.

Hunter wasn't happy that he had been duped by the general, and started climbing up the mass of twisted and bent metal. His super speed wouldn't help with something like this. As he reached the peek, he saw the professor being pulled away fiercely by the larger Parvo. Just as he was about to jump to the rescue, he was bombarded with a barrage of laser fire. He ducked down until the fire had ceased, then continued after the two. He reached the hallway they used just when a large explosion came out of it, knocking him to the ground.

Not knowing if Parvo had laid a trap or if it was the start of the self-destruct sequence, Hunter waited until the smoke cleared to see the damage. The passageway was blocked by a ceiling cave in. There was no way to follow. With bared teeth, Hunter went back the way he came, and once over the pile of twisted metal, ran full speed out of the base. Just as he came out into the sun, he saw an aircraft rise out of the underground hanger and fly off. From the window, he could swear he saw Parvo's triumphant smile bearing down on him.

Hunter growled angrily.


	3. Chapter 3: Bark and Bite

Half-Breed

Chapter Three: Bark and Bite

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

While she was sleeping, Mira had the feeling that it was almost time for her alarm clock to go off. It happened all the time; she'd wake up twenty minutes before the alarm, and she'd just roll over to try and sleep that precious time away. She felt for her covers so that she could gather them around her shoulders, but they weren't there. She groped around for them with a moan.

"Sounds like she's coming to," a female British voice said.

Mira's eyebrows came together. That wasn't very familiar. As if she had a very strange dream, her mind came back to the real world and she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the head of a doberman pincer. That in itself was weird, but not alarming. Still thinking she was dreaming, she smiled.

"Hey there, boy. What cha doin' here?" she said lazily, and reached over to scratch his ears. The dog sighed, and put his head closer. "You like that, don't you, boy."

"A little more to the right, please," the doberman requested as he closed his eyes. "Donka. That feels so good."

That really woke Mira up, and she snatched back her head with wide eyes. "Talking?!" she said loudly, and rolled over. However, the bed ended sooner than she thought, and she crashed to the floor. "Ow. Talking dog," she moaned, and hoped she had really woken up after the pain.

"You really should be careful," a male voice told her. "Let me help you up."

Mira turned around with wide eyes (there should be no men in her apartment) and saw a human-like dog standing in front of her offering a hand. She backward crawled as fast as she could until her back was against a wall. "Talking dog person!" she said in a high voice, and pointed at the humanized dog with a shaky hand. Memories from her last waking hours came into her mind, and she remembered the dog monster that she had seen. These talking dog-people weren't as big or ferocious looking, but it was close enough.

"Articulate, isn't she?" a female collie said as she walked up to a golden retriever.

"She must be in shock, poor girl," the golden retriever told the collie, and bent down a little. "It's alright. Everything is okay. You're safe. As soon as we figure out what's happened to you, we'll help you get back home."

Mira didn't listen, but tucked her legs in as close to her chest as she could manage, going through her mind what happened before she woke up. Her eyes stared off into space as she went through her memories. She had been kidnaped by that awful man, whipped by that woman and then that explosion. She hurt all over. Kidnaped. She was in danger.

"Um. . .It's going to be okay, girl," Hunter said soothingly, and reached out to pet Mira on the head as he had done to many other dogs in the past.

Mira looked up as Hunter's hand came toward her. Her eyes widened in fear, and she opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs. The noise itself was loud, but not particularly high.

The Road Rovers were startled by the scream, but not as much as when everything made of glass in the room cracked and broke as if exploding from the inside. Glass shards popped everywhere and tinkled to the ground.

Distracted by the breaking glass, Hunter didn't see in time to defend himself as the female cano-sapien aimed her shoe and kicked him as hard as she could where his armor didn't cover him. Right between the legs.

After her quick attack, Mira jumped up and ran out of the room, the other dog people moving out of her way quickly as she exited the room. In her fleeing, she nearly crashed into a large white sheep dog walking on his back legs. She screamed again, and ran in a different direction.

Once in pain, Hunter held onto his injured parts and just before he fell to the ground, he squeaked out, "I would not have predicted this."

The other Road Rovers jumped back as their leader was attacked, Blitz and Exile wincing at the thought of what Hunter was feeling. They let the female cano-sapein escape before going to see if the golden retriever was okay. Then they gathered around to look at their leader, not sure what to do as he huddled on the ground.

"Rah rah?" Shag asked, looking at them all curiously.

"Nah, he'll be okay," Exile told the hairier dog. "I think."

"That girl is dangerous," Blitz said with large eyes. "Colleen, you go and stop her."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked Blitz with a confused look.

Blitz grabbed her by the shoulders. "This is no time for jokes. This is serious. Go and stop her with your Kung Fu."

Colleen was going to stop someone with her martial arts, when Hunter lifted his head shakily.

"No, she's just scared," he said in a cracked voice. "We need to find a way to calm her down, and explain what happened. This must be a shock for her to wake up and find herself in that body. And without her master."

The others nodded, feeling more sympathetic to her now.

"Exile," Hunter continued to talk with a strain in his voice. "I'm putting you in charge of this. Do what you can to help her."

"Me?" Exile asked, surprised more than anyone that he was picked. Colleen was second-in-command, this should be her job. "But I. . ."

"You'll do a good job," Hunter muttered.

"And what will you do?" Colleen asked with hands on her hips.

"I'm going to lay here and do some whimpering," Hunter said, and proceeded to do so.

"Jolly good," Colleen said with a smile and patted him on the head. Then she turned to Exile. "So what's the plan."

"Plan?" Exile repeated, looking worried. "I think . . . maybe we should split up and go around base, I guess. Colleen, come with me. Blitz and Shag, go other way. One of us will find her. Whoever finds her, keep distance and try to talk to her. Remember, she is like stray, so be careful. She'll bite back if cornered."

* * *

Mira ran blindly. She didn't seem to notice her surroundings were different than they were in Parvo's base. She didn't think about where she was going or what she would do once she arrived there. She only knew that this wasn't a dream no matter how she looked at it. As surreal as talking dog people were, there was no way she could be this scared from a dream. So she had to escape, to run as far away as she could from them.

However, her body started to ache from bruises and cuts on her body, and her breath became labored. She slowed to a jog and then a walk, not daring to stay in one place for too long. Even though she wasn't moving as fast, her heart didn't slow its tempo out of fear and adrenaline.

Mira stopped suddenly when she heard the sounds of foot steps in front of her. She froze, thinking that maybe it was the Irish woman with the whip or another dog creature. However, she felt relieved when it turned out to be neither of these.

It was a man in a lab coat like a scientist or doctor. He had white hair although his face looked far too young for the color.

Mira was relieved by the sight of the man even if she had no reason to believe he was any nicer than he looked. The face that he didn't look even, and that he was human was enough for her. She had a strong desire to go to him, and be near him as if he was a sign of safety.

The human walking down the hall was Prof. Shepherd, on his way to look for the Road Rovers. He had heard his creations return from their mission, but strangely enough, they hadn't come to report on what had happened. They had been gone for almost the whole day, and he wondered if something had gone wrong so he started looking for them.

But at the sight of the strange cano-sapien in the hallway, he had stopped and starred. Even though he was used to the sight of cano-sapiens, anyone would be nervous to see a stranger in their home. His heart quickened, and he stood completely still with his muscles tensed in case the cano-sapien did something.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you," Mira told the human gratefully, and moved toward the man with a stumble.

Shepherd took a step back as the cano-sapien came toward him. Who was this new cano-sapien? Did the Road Rovers bring her? Not knowing what else to do, he pointed downward with one finger, and said in a commanding tone, "Down girl. Stay!"

Mira was confused by this. Was this guy crazy? "Please, you have to help me. There's these awful monsters after me," she pleaded, moving forward. However, the more she approached, the more the man backed away. It puzzled her that the man seemed almost afraid of her, as if he was the one that had been captured and not her.

Shepherd knew it wasn't the best idea, but he turned and started to run back the way he came. He had no idea why the cano-sapien was coming after him, but he wasn't going to stick around to find out especially if she intended him harm. He kept running, even as the cano-sapien shouted him to stop. As he rounded a corner, he broke out in a relieved smile as he saw Colleen and Exile in front of him. Finally, he would be able to get some answers.

"Master?" they asked in surprise to see him running down the hall.

"Thank goodness you're here. Why is there a strange cano-sapien in the base?" Shepherd asked, his curiosity taking control of the conversation.

"You've seen her?" Colleen asked.

At that time, Mira turned the corner and screamed in surprise as she saw Exile and Colleen. She, however, didn't turn around right away. Quickly, she snatched Shepherd's arm. "Hurry. Run," she told him, and pulled him as she ran away from the other two cano-sapiens. She didn't get very far before she screamed again.

Shepherd saw Blitz and Shag come around the corner slowly, and stood his ground so that the new cano-sapien couldn't pull him anywhere else. To his surprise, she hid behind him while peeking around his arm to keep an eye on both group of cano-sapiens. By that time, Shepherd concluded she was harmless, but just scared.

"We found her," Blitz said unnecessarily, and pointed to the cowering Mira.

"Can somebody explain what is going on?" Shepherd asked, looking at the Road Rovers with an expectant eye. "Who is she?"

"We are just as confusing as you are," Exile told The Master. "We are trying to figure out the long story."

"Where's Hunter?" Shepherd asked, noticing the leader was missing.

"In the infirmary," Colleen answered in a light tone. "He has a bit of an injury."

Shepherd looked concerned. "From Parvo? Or from. . ." He glanced behind him at the multi shaded grey cano-sapien.

"Er. . ." Colleen said, which said everything.

Shepherd looked even more worried, knowing now he made the right decision in running away from her. "So she's dangerous."

"Only if you're a boy," Colleen told him with a smile. She had no worries.

Mira looked at the talking dog people and the man with a critical eye. He was talking to them as if they were acquaintances. Was he with them? Was he the leader? Did he bring her here? Was he working with the general guy? Was she just using a evil man as a shield? If so, she was going to feel pretty stupid later on.

Exile gave Shepherd a quick explanation of the situation. "She's scared. We found her unconscious at Parvo's, and brought her back here. She just woke up, and then ran away."

Shepherd scratched his brow. "I see," he said, and looked once again down at the cano-sapien with a sad look. If that was true, then Parvo had found a new way to make cano-sapiens more like Road Rovers. However, maybe this one was the first experiment and not a success.

He smiled down at her, thinking of her as a shivering stray dog he found on the street. "It's alright. You're safe here. We rescued you from Parvo's."

At the word "rescued", Mira's expression changed. She was safe? This wasn't the same place that that general guy took her to. Her eyebrows went down. "Then where am I?"

"You're at Road Rover's head quarters. I promise, you'll be taken care of here," Shepherd spoke gently to her.

"Road Rovers?" Mira repeated, frowning a bit. The name was familiar; it was common for it to be mentioned on the news. There was talk of a secret group of government agents that went around rescuing people, stopping terrorists and saving the day all over the world. However, nobody could agree which government they belonged to or even if they were affiliated with a country. Nobody took credit for their work, and most leaders don't even acknowledge their existence.

The name itself was unique. Footage of the Road Rovers were shown every now and then, but it was usually very blurry. The people who claim to have seen them could never really agree with what they saw. Some said they were super heroes with powers. Some said they had high tech gizmos. Others said their were a couple of guys dressed in dog suits. Or were they space aliens that looked like dogs? Or throw-backs of nature trained by spies to do their bidding? Mutants? Werewolves? Robots? The theories were passed around like currency, never taken seriously by the top news shows and debated furiously by small time radio shows.

Mira would never have guessed that she would be given the chance to meet these Road Rovers and actually be able to find out who they were. And that was talking dog people.

"So, you're good guys?" she inquired from behind Shepherd.

"That we are," Colleen said proudly.

"Prove it," Mira ordered, and tightened her hold on Shepherd's lab coat. "Prove that you're the good guys, and not some dog monster people that's going to eat me."

"Would bad guys carry your pretty self out of exploding buildings?" Blitz answered. "Because that's what we did, _ja_. And how could you compare my beautiful self to those horrible, disgusting mutants."

Colleen rubbed her forehead slightly. "Not the best argument," she muttered.

However, Blitz wasn't the only one trying to convince Mira that they were good. Shag had sank to the ground on all fours, and slowly started to inch his way over to Mira on his belly. He didn't try to be sneaky, he made sure she saw him before he came too close. He wagged his tail softly to show he was friendly.

As soon as she spotted him, Mira turned her head to watch Shag. She wasn't the only one, everyone grew quiet as the sheep dog inched toward the female cano-sapien. Mira started to draw back since the dog was very big, taller than the others. But he looked different. He didn't wear clothing like the others. As he crawled, he looked like a regular dog. She couldn't help thinking that he looked. . . cute.

Shag stopped a foot away from the girl. He set his head on the ground so he looked like a giant pile of fur with a nose. Then he gave out a lonely whine.

That did it for Mira; her heartstring were yanked on by that high sad note. She quickly wrapped her arms around Shag's head and burying her face into his fur. Arms wrapped around her, and she felt calm emotions radiating from the white dog.

_So, it seems that my gift even works on talking dog people_, Mira thought, feeling safe in the warm hug.

There was a chorus of "Ahhhhhhs" and "Where's the camera?" The tension and nervous energy in the air quickly faded away.

Mira smiled as she broke away from the fuzzy embrace. "I guess that answered my question," she told Shag.

Shag smiled and said, "Rah rah rarara rah raffa ra ranara."

Mira looked at the dog where she thought his eyes should be. While she could hear his dog language, at the same time she could hear what he meant in her mind. Her eyes widened at the same experience she had with Dash. Then she smiled broadly.

"Nice to meet you, Shag. My name is Mira."

"Rah rar rrara Rabarara raa ra."

"Sure I'll answer some questions. I have some of my own," Mira said, a slight smirk on her face.

Shag sat up much like a human, and leaned against the wall with one arm on his knee. He patted the space next to him for Mira to join him. She did, sitting so that she could hold her legs close to her chest. Mira moved into a position where she could hold her knees close to her. Sitting next to Shag, she looked very small. Shag then spoke his strange dog language, and invited the others to come closer and sit down so they could all talk. The Master, even though he was used to Shag, still had a hard time understanding what he said, but followed after the other Road Rovers as they tentatively sat down. Mira waited for the first question. She looked from the collie, to the husky, then the Doberman and finally to the man. She assumed he was in charge. "What is it you want to know?"

Shepherd knew exactly what he needed to know first. It was dire for him to know how much progress Parvo had made on the transdogmafier. Was Mira just an accident, or just the tip of the iceberg? Was it Parvo who changed her, or something he found in Prof. Patel's lab.

"I need to know how did General Parvo change you," Shepherd said carefully.

"Change me?" Mira asked confused.

"Yes, into the cano-sapien you are now," Shepherd said. He started to wonder with how natural the female acted and by her confusion if Parvo had made her a long time ago. Maybe they were too late.

_Cano-sapien_? Mira thought. She knew what the words meant, and interpreted them as this: dog person. She connected the dots in her mind, but she was slow to check what the picture was. She looked down at her hands, and noticed for the first time, they were a dark brown. They were a light grey and furry. And as she looked at her arm, she noticed there was something below her eye level, almost near her face. Timidly, she lifted her hand to touch it, and something touched her nose. It took her a while to realized that she was touching her nose. Then she put both hands on her face, feeling the fur and differences in facial structure.

Seeing Mira feel her face, Shag rummaged around in his fur and produced a small hand mirror for Mira. He held it up for her since she wouldn't take it.

Mira starred in the mirror. She recognized her own green eyes, but not the face. Light grey hair was marked most of the dog-like face, and then a darker grey on the outside framed by black hair. Her hair. She opened her mouth in a gasp, and the dog-face opened her mouth. She touched her nose and felt the shape of her new mouth, watching as the dog person in the mirror did the same. She then reached up and saw the dog person do the same. She almost hoped that she wouldn't be able to, but her fingers felt the tips of her new sharp ears. To end her enlightening discovery of her new body, she reached around her butt, wishing that nothing would be there. A shiver shot up her spine as she felt her hands grasp over the new addition. She had a nice bushy tail.

Mira screamed at the image in the mirror, and tried to move as far away from it as possible. The mirror cracked, but didn't shatter. Shag pulled the looking glass back, looking at it with a forelorn look before moving closer to Mira with concern.

Blitz and Exile jerked back when Mira screamed, not wanting to be near her if she decides to become violent again.

"That's a lovely singing voice, sweetie," Colleen told Mira with a smile. "But what's the problem?"

Mira looked like she was ready to cry. She wailed, "Whaaaa! I've been turned into a monster!"

Shepherd expected this now, thinking she was now shocked by her appearance. "Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be able to return you to normal. Then we'll take you home as soon as we locate your master."

As Shepherd spoke, Mira slowly looked relieved to hear those words. She was almost smiling until the end of the last sentence. Then all expression fell from her face before she repeated loudly, "My master?!"

Shepherd was taken aback. "Uh. . .I'm sorry. I assumed by your collar that you belonged to someone. If that's the case, I'm sure I could find you a new home," he said quickly, hoping to pacify the female.

Mira looked horrified as she realized what was going on. She became angry as she corrected them. "I'm not a dog. I'm human," she said loudly.

"Human?" Shepherd repeated. "You're human?"

"Damn straight, I am," Mira told them, looking horrified. She gave them all a hard look as if she dared anyone to call her a liar.

"Human?" Blitz repeated. All while everyone talked, he had been silently watching Mira with a smile on his face. But now he looked as if his dreams were shattered. "But you're so pretty," he said like it was a valid argument.

"No, I'm not. I'm a dog," Mira told him, but still felt good about the compliment. "Why am I a dog? Did that ugly general guy do this to me?" she asked, looking to Shepherd.

Shepherd sighed since he didn't know the answer. "Perhaps if we both started from the beginning. First off, this man that took you away, his name is General Parvo. My name is Prof. Shepherd, and around three years ago, I invented a machine." Shepherd told his whole story from the day Scout was dog-napped to the last he heard from the Road Rovers that morning after they found Patel and went to Parvo's base.

"Oh, now it's my turn," Colleen said happily, clapping her hands together. "We found Parvo's base in Canada, and ran in to rescue the professor's dog. We separated to circle around to surprise Parvo. But then we saw the Groomer, and she was shooting at something."

"There was fire all over placesky," Exile jumped in, describing the inferno. "I put fire out with ice vision. It's good for things like that."

"Oh, and here's my favorite part," Blitz interrupted happily. "We found you and the small little grey dog. I carried you out to safety with my big, strong muscles." Blitz flexed with little modesty.

"Have shame, please," Exile told him, and pushed him softly.

Blitz gave him a sly smile. "You're just jealous that I rescued her like a knight in shining armor," he told Exile.

"Knight in weird armor is more like it," Exile shot back with an equal grin.

Mira couldn't help but laugh at their squabbling. The two acted like a couple of puppies tugging on a rope, there was no real malice but they still wanted to win. After a while of giggling, she realized everyone was looking at her, so she stopped with a cough. "Um. . .so you found Dash too. Is he alright? Where is he? Did you reunite him with his master?" She had on an expectant smile.

Faces fell as the unwanted duty of telling Mira the bad news fell to Exile, which everyone looked to. Exile rubbed his arm subconsciously as he told her the truth.

"The little dog, he is not hurt. But he hasn't waken up. He may be in coma. As for his master, he is gone. Parvo grabbed him during rescue mission," Exile explained in his broken English.

Mira hugged her knees closer as she took this all in. After all she went through, it still didn't help that little dog. She didn't save him, and his master was gone now.

"Dash went through so much for his master," she whispered, remembering the lashings both she and Dash received. "He tried so hard."

"Mira," Shepherd started off. "We have a small idea why Parvo wanted the professor, but I hoped you could enlighten us a little by telling your side of the story."

Mira looked down, and almost looked as if she didn't want to say anything.

Exile wondered if she was still nervous about being here in this strange place, and thought that perhaps he should do something to lighten the mood.

"We have not introducedsky ourselves to you. My name is Exile. I'm from Siberia," Exile told her. "That is Shag from Switzerland."

"Oh, I'm Princess Sophia. Just kidding," Colleen quickly picked up with a wave. "I'm Colleen from London. How'd you do?"

"And I am Blitz, the handsome one. I'm from Germany," Blitz told her.

Even though they knew her name, she introduced herself again. "I'm Mira Ortega. I'm from Jersey. Thank you very much for saving me." Mira looked around worriedly. "Wasn't there another one of you? A golden retriever?" She looked anxiously around her, as if she had done something bad.

"Oh, you mean Huntie," Colleen said with a flick of her wrist. "He's from the states too. Don't worry about him. He's in the infirmary."

"Oh my gosh, is he alright?" Mira asked with concern.

"He won't be riding any bicycles for a while, but he seemed fine. He was more worried about you," Colleen told her.

Mira looked shocked, and then depressed. "He was worried about me?" She cradled her head in her arms. "I'm a bad person. I kicked a dog," she moaned. "I feel so awful."

The Master raised an eyebrow as he had an idea of where Hunter was kicked. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure Hunter will be fine. He'll probably bounce right back soon enough," he assured her. "But I really need to know what happened at Parvo's lab."

Still looking depressed, Mira took a deep breath before she began telling what happened to her from the time she was ran off the road by Groomer. She made it to the part where Parvo was telling her to read Dash's mind when Shepherd interrupted.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Shepherd asked, scratching his head.

"Oh, I guess I should explain. I'm a dog psychic," Mira said, looking a little abashed. "Ever since I was little, I've been able to sense what dogs feel and see images they are thinking. Sometimes, they think words, but not very often. But Dash spoke a lot to me. He could even carry a conversation. And I could hear Shag's thoughts too," she said, looking up at the white sheep dog.

"Fascinating," Shepherd said with wide eyes. "Is it with all dogs or just certain breeds? Have you tried communicating with wolves and other canines? Can you send images to them? Have you noticed anything different since your transformation? Has your gift weakened or strengthened?"

Mira looked conflicted by the questions Shepherd bombarded on her. "Uh, I'm not sure with any of those. Most of the time, dogs can understand what I'm saying to them, and feel my emotions. I tried sending an image to Dash, but it didn't work."

Shepherd felt an excitement he hadn't felt for a while. He had heard of people who could communicate with animals, but had never met one. He had always wanted to study one since the reason he invented the transdogmafier was to be able to communicate with dogs. He had more and more questions he wanted to ask Mira, but realized this wasn't the best time for that.

"Is that why mirror broke?" Exile asked, just as intrigued about Mira's story as The Master was. "And glass in infirmary? Did you do that?"

"No, I didn't," Mira said quickly, feeling the blood drain from her face. But then she looked down. "At least I don't think so. Nothing like that's ever happened before. I couldn't do that, could I?" Her face looked horrified and shocked as she remembered the bursting glass. "I didn't mean to. What's happened to me?"

Shepherd wanted to know more about Mira. It appeared that her gifts she had before she was transformed may have been enhanced from being turned into a cano-sapien. He wanted to analyze the effects of her gifts on dogs, see if she is able to expand to other animals. But he soothed his enthusiasm. "I'm sorry for the interruption. Please return to your story. You were saying Dash had some information Parvo wanted," Shepherd quickly directed Mira back to her narration.

Mira continued on, talking slowly when she came to the part where Groomer used other methods to get the information. She shivered as she remembered the whip slicing into her, and looked down at her arms and cloths. And after that, she remember that she couldn't hear anything after that, and she stopped talking. She reached up into her hears and felt around. Her eyes grew wider.

"My hearing aide? It's gone," Mira said incredulously. "I couldn't hear anything after that, so I thought I lost it. But now, I can hear again." Her face lit up in a look of pure joy. "I can hear again." She laughed lightly and grabbed onto Shag's arm as if to share her joy with him. Tears started to come to her eyes. She didn't know if it was because she was so happy or if it was because her emotions had been rising and falling so quickly that she was on the point of hysterics.

Shepherd was once again transfixed on Mira as her words caused more questions. "You're hearings returned? When did this happen? How bad was your hearing before? How good is it now?"

Mira laughed with a shrug. "I don't know. I couldn't hear anything before the explosion, but since I woke up, I'm hearing just fine. Better than I have since I was a little girl. This is so great."

"Wait, what explosion?" Shepherd pressed.

"Um, that device Parvo wanted," Mira continued on, her voice mixed with feelings of joy and frustration. "Dash and I took it back from the woman. And we destroyed it. And there was an explosion. After that, everything went dark."

Shepherd rubbed his chin and frowned. She had been pretty vague at the end, but he was able to piece together what had happened. "And that's everything that happened?"

Mira nodded. "Pretty much."

"Parvo didn't put you in some sort of machine or inject you with something?" Shepherd asked, looking for more information.

"I would have mentioned it before," Mira answered her voice turning hard.

"Could he have done something to you before you woke up in his lab? Did your arm feel soar like you've had a shot, or felt strange in any way?"

"I was a little preoccupied by being kidnaped and beaten," Mira shot at him with an angry look. "I don't know, anything could have happened. All I remember was before I woke up here, I was human." She then buried her head into Shag's arm in frustration.

With a deep sigh, Shepherd realized that the girl had been through quite enough already, and didn't need to be badgered with questions. He decided that for now, he'd keep back his curiosity. "I'm sorry for what's happened to you. Perhaps it would be best to stop for today, and start again once you've had some rest, if that's okay with you."

Mira, still holding onto Shag, nodded. "Thank you," she said again, looking relieved that the questions would stop for now. The thought of taking a hot bath and sleeping in her own bed at home sounded like heaven to her. But that wasn't going to happen.

For the majority of the time they sat in the hall, Exile felt as if he wasn't really taking the initiative to be the leader as Hunter asked him to. Even when The Master wasn't asking questions, Colleen took charge as if it were natural for her to do so. But as The Master decided to end the discussion, Exile felt he should do something. Hunter wanted him to be in charge of Mira and do what he could to help her.

"Come. I'll take you some place you can rest," Exile said and stood up. Tentatively, he held out his hand to help the girl up.

Mira accepted it slowly, and hardly had to make an effort as she was pulled onto her feet. She looked down at Shag, hoping that he would come with her. However, the sheep dog didn't move. He just waved at her and spoke in his strange language.

"Good night," she responded, and followed the husky down the hall. Before they rounded the corner, she took one last look at the other cano-sapeins. What did they think of her? Was it as weird for them to see her as it was for her? Did they see her as a freak, or didn't think about it since she looked just like them? What if they didn't believe she was ever human? She didn't give them any proof.

She reached up and held onto her necklace, her fingers touching the metal to feel the engraved name on it.

Exile looked back and saw Mira touching her necklace. "Who is Shadow?" he asked, a little curious.

Mira was caught off guard since she was immersed in her thoughts, so she didn't answer right away. She looked up and noticed how icy blue Exile's eyes were, but they were not cold. "She was my very best friend," she told him with a smile, looking more relaxed as she spoke. "She was the dog my parents adopted when I was still in diapers. As a puppy, she followed me everywhere. They said she was my little shadow."

Exile noticed the past tense as Shadow was mentioned. "Shadow is gone now?" he asked, and wished he hadn't. He was sure Mira wouldn't want to talk about it if it was a sensitive subject.

But Mira nodded. "For a while now. I kept her name tag to remember her," she explained her necklace. "It gives me strength to have it. I like to think she still looks after me from her place in heaven." Even though Shadow had died years ago, at that point the old wound felt fresh. She lowered her head and closed her eyes to try and force her emotions in. She wished they could hurry to wherever they were going so she could be alone. But the tears came anyway.

They arrived at Exile's room soon after that. While there were plenty of rooms in their Head Quarters, there wasn't a guest room since there hadn't been a need for one. Because of this, Exile came to the conclusion that since he was the leader, he should be the one that gives up his bed.

"Here is room for you," Exile said and opened the door for her. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call, okay?" He turned to look at Mira, and his ears slowly sank down. She was rubbing her eyes to stop the tears, avoiding his gaze. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked about the heart necklace.

"I'm fine. Really. Thank you for everything," Mira said quickly, her voice full of emotion. "I don't need. . ."

Exile knew what she was going to say, and knew it was wrong. "I know what you need. You need hug," he told her with a smile.

That almost stopped her crying altogether. "Wha?" she managed before the husky's large arms wrapped around her. She almost panicked again and went into self-defense mode, but she felt calm as she heard the words whispered to her, "Everything will be alright." Even though there was no basis for that sentence to be entirely true, it still calmed her. She allowed herself to be held, and listened as more words of comfort were whispered to her as she continued to cry. The embrace wasn't tight, but just protective feeling. She could easily pull away if she wanted to.

The action felt right for Exile. As a sled dog, he had often comforted humans who had come to him sad or lonely, and he would just lick their faces of their tears and nuzzle up to them. However, as a cano-sapien, this seemed like a more proper way of comforting Mira, and he felt glad that there was at least one thing he was able to do to help her.

After a while, Mira pulled away slowly, her eyes dryer than before. "Thank you. I guess I needed that more than I thought," she said, a small smile on her face.

"It is job of Road Rover. We will help and protect you, like Shadow did, okay?" Exile assured her, smiling as well. "I will say to you, 'good night' now."

"Good night," Mira echoed, and went into the room, her fingers slightly brushing the dog tag. Exile's words felt like something Shadow would want him to say. She wasn't there, but her heart was.

Mira quickly glanced around the room, and her eyes fell upon the bed. "Aren't you the most beautiful thing," she told the piece of furniture and quickly went onto it. As she lay on the covers, she closed her eyes wanting to sleep. But she felt uncomfortable. Slowly, she sat up and started taking her shoes and socks off, and then looked down at her clothes. They were dirty, dusty, torn, blood-stained and not for sleeping in. As tired as she was, Mira really wanted something to change into. Remembering what Exile said, she wondered if she should see if he was still nearby and ask for some new clothes. But then she spotted a dresser.

She slipped off the bed and moved to the dresser. Without thinking of anything else but finding clean clothes, she opened the top drawer. There at the top, was a pair of male, light blue pajamas. Thinking how lucky she was that she didn't have to go snooping too far into the dresser, she took out the pajama top. She went into the adjoining bathroom to change.

After pulling off her street clothes and dance wear below that, she examined her body. It was hard to see with the fur, but she could see dried blood where her cuts were. She looked around, but could only find clean white towels. She didn't want to use those to clean her cuts off, so she just took damp pieces of toilet paper to clean off some of the blood. It was rudimentary, but good enough. She was too tired to take a shower.

The pajama top was very big, but loose and comfortable, and covered her halfway down her thighs. She didn't even bother grabbing the pajama pants, knowing they would be too big for her and cumbersome.

Satisfied with what she'd done, she went back into the bedroom, quickly turned off the light, and climbed into the bed, sliding between the sheets with a sigh. In the dark, it was easy for her to forget all the bad things and pretend she was back at home, human again. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

* * *

Not expecting anyone to stay around and help him, Hunter moved out of the infirmary when he felt he was able, and slowly walked to the kitchen to get himself a bag of ice. From there, he didn't have to go far to the living room to sit on the couch as softly as he could. He placed the bag of ice in between his legs with a slight hiss of pain before relaxing as the hurt ebbed away. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

He didn't know how long he lay there, but he didn't fall asleep. After a while, a female voice spoke to him.

"Hunter, are you awake?" the voice said softly.

"Yeah," Hunter grunted and opened his eyes to see Colleen hovering over him.

"How's your kibbles n' bits?" she asked and flopped down on the couch next to him.

Hunter winced as Colleen's bouncing jostled him in the process. "Much better," he grunted with a painful smile. "I'm not dying just yet. I assume you found that girl."

"Too right, we did," Colleen said. "Blimey, what a mess she's in, poor blighter," Colleen added, a touch of worry in her voice. Without being asked, she launched into telling Hunter the entire thing.

Hunter listened and never said a word. However, once the story had finished, Colleen had continued to talk. From there he only half-listened as he imagined what Mira had gone through.

"She's definitely in shock, that's for sure. The way she looked and expressed herself, it didn't seem right. There was something about her that I'm not too sure about," Colleen said, her voice wondering off with her thoughts. "Am I making any sense? What do you think, Huntie-wuntie?"

Hunter didn't answer, he was preoccupied with his own thoughts.

"Hunter, are you there?" Colleen asked, poking him in the arm.

"Uh, yeah. I'm listening," Hunter said, running through what Colleen had just said. "Well, I'm not sure. I guess I will when I meet her." He smiled, but it wasn't the same Hunter smile. It felt a little flat.

Colleen had noticed that was the trend with him today, although it wasn't as bad as it was now. "I guess so. But that won't be until tomorrow. She's had a long day, especially after The Master grilled her."

"Did The Master say anything to you about me?" Hunter asked, his head lowering a little.

Colleen shrugged. "No, not a word. We were all a little preoccupied with the girl's story," she said. She suddenly felt worried about Hunter. He wasn't acting like himself, maybe he was sick. She was about to reach over to feel his nose when he moaned. "What's wrong, Huntie? Tell me."

"I really messed up today, didn't I?" he asked Colleen with a sad chuckle. Then he buried his face in his hands. "I failed, that's what's wrong. I came back from a failed mission," Hunter admitted to her, his voice harsh.

Colleen tried to cheer him up. "So you failed on mission, out of how many? You've done a really good job as our leader. Nobody could expect you to never make a mistake," Colleen told him. "The Master will understand."

"But I failed this one," Hunter said, his voice turning angry. "And I just didn't fail the team and The Master, I failed the professor and his dog, and I failed that girl. I got two humans involved, and they came out with the worse of it."

Colleen backed away from Hunter's outburst, her eyes wide. Could this almost be the same golden retriever she had known for almost two years?

"I should have tried harder," Hunter said quieter. "If I didn't joke and goof around so much, none of this would have happened."

Colleen felt she understood that Hunter was having a hard time accepting the consequences for the failed mission. As leader, he held a lot on his shoulders this time. And the fact that he was agonizing about it spoke highly of him. Colleen disliked seeing Hunter this way. She moved closer, and took his arm in her hands so he would look at her. "Listen to me, Huntie. You are the best leader this team could ever had. And I know you wouldn't do anything to endanger a mission, so what you did today was the best anyone could ever do. If it wasn't for your decisions, we may not have found the girl and the professor's dog. They owe their lives to you," she told him with a warm smile.

Hunter's shoulders sagged and his head moved closer to her as if a heavy weight was taken off of him. "Thanks, Colleen. I think that's what I wanted to hear," he whispered gratefully.

"No problem, Huntie."

The closeness of their conversation brought their head closer. Colleen was so involved in helping Hunter that she didn't notice until then that their noses were almost touching. Hunter looked her in the eyes and was smiling down at her in a way that made her heart beat faster. Colleen closed her eyes.

Hunter tilted his head to the side, looking offended. "Colleen," he called and waited for the female dog to look at him again. "Maybe you should get more sleep. You almost fell asleep during our conversation," he told her with concern. "Especially since we woke up so early this morning.

Colleen huffed and moved further away from Hunter, taking great care to bounce soundly. She looked away from him with a tired look. "I'm a big girl. I don't need to be sent to bed," she snapped at him. Then she remembered one of the reasons she hunted the golden retriever down. "It was a little strange that you put Exile in charge back there."

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. "I meant to talk to you about that. I hope you weren't offended that I did that," he said almost apologetically.

"No, I'm not offended," Colleen said, pretending to be disinterested. "It was an unusual decision."

Hunter sighed. He knew that tone. Colleen always talked that way to Blitz, but never to anyone else. She was mad, but was pretending she wasn't. "It was on the spot inspiration that's all," he told her. He tried to think of a way to explain himself. "Colleen, you're a really good Road Rover, you know that?"

"It's nice to hear it once in a while, but yeah," Colleen said, slightly turning her head to look at him.

"You're smart and you think on your feet. You're good at taking action, and brave and you can lead this team as good as any dog," Hunter told her with a slight smile as he saw Colleen nod to everything he said in agreement.

"You can go on, Huntie," she said with her smooth smile.

It was now Hunter's turn to comfort his companion. "It's just that, I wasn't sure if this was the right job for you," he told her. He saw her frown in confusion. "That girl, she looked so scared, and I thought that to help her out, we'd have to try understanding her, have patience and accept her. We'd have to use kind words, and prove that she could trust us. It just seemed to me that Exile was made for this job."

Colleen thought about this, and found herself agreeing to Hunter's words. She had to admit that he knew his team so well that he was able to pick the right Rover for the job based on their individual personality. It was impressive that he assessed the situation so quickly while feeling pain in his groin. But at the same time, Colleen felt a little offended at his decision, even after he had explained. Did he not think she could have been as kind and comforting as Exile could be? Was he right? Was her attitude and behavior just not right to have helped Mira out?

She then remembered the way Exile quickly broke up a tense situation by starting the introductions, making the girl feel more at ease. And he had been the one to take Mira somewhere to rest. After thinking about it, Colleen figured out that Exile most likely would give the new cano-sapien his own room. That would be Exile, loving and selfless. He accepted everyone, and smiled readily. Perhaps he was the right one for the job.

"But then again, Exile usually says what's on his mind and tends to not make any sense. I hope she can understand him," Hunter said, rubbing his chin.

Colleen chuckled. It was amazing how Hunter knew his whole team so well, yet the male couldn't catch any hints she was throwing at him. Colleen couldn't help smiling and patted Hunter on the cheek.

"Don't ever change, Huntie," she told him, and stood up softly. "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."

Hunter looked confused at Colleen's words, but also accepted that to be her random personality. He said good night as well, and watched her leave. He always had a good feeling whenever Colleen was around, and was glad that she was a Road Rover. "Don't ever change, either," he whispered as she disappeared.

"What you say, comrade?"

"Huh? Oh, Exile. I didn't see you there," Hunter said as he looked behind him to see the husky carrying a blanket and pillow with him. "What's going on?"

"I sleep in here," Exile said simply. "I give Mira my room to sleep in."

"Ah, that was thoughtful," Hunter said happily, and started to stand up. "Here, I'll leave so you can have the couch."

"Floor is fine. You are injured, comrad, so you stay," Exile told his leader. He laid out his bedding before turning out the lights and laying down. "Floor is better than being in your fur."

"Ah, that's sweet. Thanks," Hunter said jokingly, and laid back down on the couch. "I don't think I could walk to my room."

Exile chuckled. "Mira says she is very sorry for what she has done to you. She was very sad," Exile told him, hoping it will make him feel better.

Hunter nodded even if Exile couldn't see. "I should be the one apologizing to her. She's been through a lot that nobody should go through," he said, remembering from Colleen the trials the girl face. "Exile, could you tell me what she's like."

Exile had no idea where to begin to answer Hunter's question. He thought for a while, before saying anything. "Well, she is like timid, little mouse at first. You think she is small and fragile, but once in corner, she acts like wolf. Underneath, I see that she is strong, but does not show it often. And I can tell she is very kind." Exile continued to tell Hunter what he saw, telling how easily she accepted Shag and kept near him throughout the whole process. He told about how quickly she grew angry and sad at times, and also the deep sorrow she felt when she talked about how sorry she was about hurting Hunter. He told about how big her smile was when she found out she didn't need a hearing aide, and how she had laughed at his and Blitz's small fight. Exile told everything he had seen, except for the part at the end. He did not like to keep things from others, but Shadow and when he gave Mira a hug seemed special. He couldn't explain it, but he wanted to keep that to himself.

Hunter listened, piecing together what Exile was saying to what Colleen had told him. It was different since Colleen had told the facts and related everything she saw, but Exile saw things a little different, going more into how Mira acted rather than what she did.

Exile's voice slowed down as he neared the end out of fatigue. He yawned out the last few words before going silent.

Hunter could hear the concern in the husky's voice. It was just what he wanted to hear. "Exile, could you do me a favor?"

"Hmmm, what is that?"

"You know, a favor. A request. I'm asking you to do something for me."

"I know what favor is. What favor do you want?"

Hunter smiled in the dark. "Could you introduce me to her tomorrow?" he asked. "I'd really like to meet her."

"You want me for protection?" Exile joked with his friend again.

"Are you willing to take a hit for me?" Hunter asked in reply. The two chuckled over the joke. "Nah, I just want to see her, and it sounds like you know her a little."

Exile wondered why Hunter was being so cautious around the girl. Maybe he really didn't want to admit it, but he was scared she would kick him again. Sometimes, dog reasoning was hard to let go of as a cano-sapien. "Fine. In morning, you'll meet Mira. Now, good night."

"Good night, Exile," Hunter said, and the only thing that could be heard was the breathing of the two males.

After a while, Hunter's breath slowed down to tell he was asleep. Exile tossed around on the ground for a while, but not because the floor was uncomfortable. He couldn't get his mind off of Mira. He remembered the way she looked when she told about how the Groomer hurt her, the fear in her eyes as she remembered the pain. He remembered her shaking in his arms when he held her. She seemed so small and fragile in his embrace, but could sense something stronger within. But that strength was only enough to keep her going, to keep her together. Physically, she was not as strong. And as he lay in the dark, he had a desire to protect her. It wasn't often that there was someone for him to protect, not like this. His comrades needed him to watch their back, the world needed to be protected from people like Parvo, and he knew how to do that. He just didn't know how to protect Mira because as far as he knew right now, she was safe. So he was determined to help her out any way he could, to do what he could to "protect" her as long as she was in his protection. He wanted to be like her Shadow, nearby when she needed to draw strength.

With that thought on his mind, he sank into the land of dreams.

* * *

The monitor blinked a few times as the console operator changed views from one camera to another. After a few seconds of switching from one to another, he stopped on the view of two blurry figures in a cluttered lab. The console operator adjusted the volume on the screen as the camera automatically focused.

"I told you before, Parvo. All of these things, they're failures. They don't work."

The blurry images became two men standing close to each other. One was broad, with large bulging muscles, his height towering over the second who looked half his size, even though he was average height for a man but skinny. He wore a lab coat that used to be white, and his hair was disheveled.

"They're in their Bosnia base, as you thought sir,' the console operator report, and looked over his shoulder. There was a large man standing behind him, watching the screen with a stony face. The man didn't say anything, but continued to watch the monitor.

General Parvo loomed over Ravi "Then why keep them, professor?" Parvo glowered.

Ravi shook his head. "To remind me of my mistakes. I could go back and see what didn't work, and try again. I promise you, the only thing that worked was that device that I told you about. That's what you want."

"Unfortunately, it's been destroyed," Parvo growled. "But the good news is that you're here to make another one, an improved version."

The man didn't stop looking at the screen, but quickly barked out instructions, his voice carried an African accent. "I want to know what happened to that device. Has the clean up crew gone back to find the black boxes at the Canada base? I want those surveillance tapes reviewed hours ago."

"It's being done now, sir. It wasn't easy to find all of them. It was a big base," a woman's voice with a Chinese accent answered from somewhere behind the man.

The man watched the screen as Patel back away from Parvo. "Build another one. I-I can't. I don't have my notes. They were all destroyed," he told the General. "Everything I worked on until now is gone. I'll have to start all over."

"Then you better get to work, professor. My patience is wearing thin," Parvo finished.

From his place standing in front of the screen, the man sneered. "I've seen enough. Keep visual on Parvo for now. I want to know immediately if his new guest is able to build anything." The man turned around smartly, and marched away. In his wake, lower rank officers scuttled around to look busy and do as they were told. The woman who spoke before followed after him, a serious look on her face.

"Understood sir," she said, taking out a Blackberry like device and started working on it with her fingers. "What shall I tell the Commander Aries, sir?"

The man growled under his breath. "He is not in charge of this project. You can tell him that for now, I'm giving Parvo a little more time to produce results. If he fails again, we will terminate his section of the project, as he requested."

"Very good, sir," the woman said, making a final adjustment on her device before putting it away.

The man's frown was deeper than the Grand Canyon as he thought about what he said. "Parvo's been a waste of this organization's time keeping tabs on him. The only thing he's been able to do right is keep those vigilante freaks busy, and even that he can't do right. The Commander will continue to ride my ass no matter what I do. I thought Parvo had potential, and I'll be a fool if I let his potential waste away. Clear my calender, Ms. Lao. I'm going to help out the 'general'."


	4. Chapter 4: Top Dog

Half-Breed

Chapter 4: Top Dog

By Emilou aka Hatashi Kitty

(Author's notes: Woo! I'm on a roll. However, good things may come to an end. I'm coming to a point where I won't be able to write at work. Maybe I can get out one more chapter in the next week. That's if it comes out smoothly. I hope everybody doesn't mind that a majority of this chapter is fluff. The plot moves on a bit, but not much. Maybe more next time. Or not. Thank you everyone for the comments. It really keeps me going, it really does. You have no idea how much I live for comments. Enjoy!)

Exile knocked on the door tentatively, hoping the female resident inside wasn't still sleeping. The door opened, and a disheveled head of fur looked up at him.

"Hi, Exile. What can I do for you that couldn't wait until I girled up?" Colleen said with a wry smile. Her hair was still in curlers, and she was dressed in her night gown.

Exile apologized before continuing on with the reason he came. "Could I use some of your clothes?"

Colleen looked at him skeptically. "I have some fabulous skirts in your color, but I must insist you not use my bras. You'll only stretch them out with your big bust."

Exile just smiled at Colleen's teasing and joked, "Stop. You're making me blush." He pretended to be embarrassed before continuing on with his real objective. "They are not for me. It is for new girl. I thought she'd like clean clothes."

"Well, aren't you thoughtful," Colleen told him with a genuine smile. It reminded her of her discussion last night with Hunter. She felt almost envious of Exile's generous and thoughtful nature. Maybe she should try to improve herself in that area. "I hope we're the same size. Let me get a few things for you," Colleen told him, and rummaged through her clothes. While the Road Rovers had their uniforms to wear, they'd recently started wearing more comfortable clothing while off duty. Colleen, out of all of them, had a wider variety of civilian clothing than the others.

After finding something nice but simple for Mira, Colleen folded everything together, and added one of her newer combs to the pile. She gathered it all in her arms, and took it over to Exile. "If you need anything else, I'm happy to help," she told Exile.

"Thanks," Exile said, and left with the clothes in his arms. He moved to the linen closet to grab a fresh towel for Mira before moving down the hall to his own bedroom.

Once again, he was hoping he wasn't waking the resident up. This time, he wasn't so fortunate since it took some time for the door to open. He was met with a yawn, tired green eyes and ruffled hair. However, when he gave Mira a second look, his heart quickened and he blushed profusely with wide eyes. He had not expected her to come out wearing his pajama shirt and only his shirt. While it was big enough to cover the majority of her, she had not buttoned it all the way and the majority of her legs were left uncovered.

"Huh?" Mira asked, blinking at the light from the hall. She looked as if she was trying to comprehend something difficult to understand. "Exile, right?"

Exile averted his eyes. "Here is clothes for you," he said quickly, pushing the clothing into her arms.

Mira, a little more awake, accepted the bundle with a surprised smile. "Thanks. Just what I needed," she said. She studied the husky a little, wondering why he didn't look her in the eye. He acted a little strange, not as friendly as he was last night. Did something happen? "Well, then. I guess I'll just go get ready," she said awkwardly, and closed the door.

The door closed, and Exile relaxed a little. But he could still feel his face burning as the image of Mira in his shirt stayed in his mind. Suddenly, he felt guilty for still thinking about it and being embarrassed. After all, Mira had said she could read dog's minds. What if she was seeing what he was thinking right now? Exile had intended to wait around a while until Mira was ready, and then take her to the kitchen for breakfast, but then he decided that a quick walk wouldn't harm anything. He quickly left, turning his mind onto other things while he strode down the hall.

In the bedroom, Mira took the pile of clothing into the bathroom. Seeing the towel, she was reminded she was in despite need of a shower. Before starting to undress, she took a look at herself in the mirror over the sink. She was partially surprised to see her new form since she still expected to see her human face looking back at her. Plus she hadn't had a look at her whole self; she had been afraid to look last night.

And then she noticed what she was wearing, a single men's shirt much like the girls did in movies after the "bedroom" scene. Mira always thought it was sexy and intimate for girls to wear their boyfriends or husband's button shirts, and she didn't really think about all of that last night since she was too tired. But now that she thought about how she answered the door with just this on, Exile's behavior started to make sense.

"Holy crap," she said as she blushed at what she had done. It wasn't because she had trouble showing off a little skin now and then. She had worn bikinis before, and some of her dance costumes had less than what she was wearing. But somehow, this was different. Bikinis and dance costumes had a purpose; what she was wearing felt very personal. She felt like a skank.

There was a part of her that wondered why he reacted like that. After all, she was human, and would eventually be human again. Then she thought if things were in reverse, if she had stepped in on a human Exile, she'd probably be embarrassed as well. Since she looked like them, it must be hard for them to see her any other way. Well, what was done was done. She'd apologize to Exile later for it.

As she undressed and started the shower, she couldn't help but continue to linger over what had happened, especially Exile's reaction. It intrigued her. The night before, the doberman has said she was pretty. At first, she had ignored the comment since everything felt surreal from the beginning, but now she thought about it. Was she considered to be attractive as a dog person?

She looked at herself in the mirror again, trying to see what attributes were used to determine how pretty she was. Did it have to do with the color of her fur and the different markings? Was having a long tail part of it? Were pointed ears more attractive than floppy ears? Was a long muzzle more beautiful than a pushed in nose? As she thought more about this, she figured it must come down to the breed of the dog. Were some breeds the super-models of the doggy world? Or were they like humans, some liked big dogs and some liked small dogs? Did each dog person have a preference, just like how some people found pugs and bulldogs to be cute?

With this thought in mind, she took a look at herself again and couldn't really determine exactly what she was. Her coloring didn't fit any typical dog breed. A mongrel. Did it matter to dog people if another dog person was full-bred or a mutt? And as she looked closer, she noticed that she looked a little bit like Dash, only more human and feminine. Her eyes widened as she wondered if Dash had anything to do with her transformation. Did Parvo use his DNA to change her? Thinking she should tell Shepherd this, she jumped into the shower.

Once she started cleaning herself, Mira was able to feel all the lacerations and bruises she received at the Groomer's whip. She carefully washed away the dried blood and clean out the open sores, feeling them sting under the hot water and soap. She scrubbed deep into her fur everywhere, the feeling strange yet familiar from washing dogs at her job. She was tentative about touching her tail only because it felt so weird to have one. Quickly, she scrubbed the extra body part, and then left it alone, thinking she'd never get used to it. Not that she expected to have it long enough to do so.

After rinsing off, she turned off the shower and started wringing out as much of the water as possible. But because her fur was so thick, she couldn't get it all out and she felt very heavy. Grabbing a towel, she rubbed all over herself to dry out her fur as much as she could. As she did, her nose was suddenly overwhelmed with the smell of wet dog. She was used to the smell from her job, but this time it was stronger than anything she had ever smelled before. It was so bad, she gasped through her mouth.

It was strange, she did not remember smelling anything since she was turned into a dog, but now she could smell _everything_. She smelled the shampoo and soap she used, and all the other bathroom smells but stronger than ever. Was this how dogs smelled? Why did it start now? How did they live with this? She kept working at drying herself while trying to breathe through her nose. After using her towel until it was sopping wet, she was still very damp and the smell of her wet fur lingered just as powerful. Frustrated, she looked around for a hair dryer.

In one corner of the bathroom, there was a large vent on the floor. Curious, she studied it along with a timer-dial on the wall. She turned the dial, and air started coming up from the floor. Stepping carefully on the metal mesh, she sighed as luke-warm air blew all around her, drying her faster than the towels. Slowly, the smell of wet dog was dispersed, but all the other scents were still there. Just another thing she'd have to put up with until she was turned back into a human.

Stepping off the vent, Mira grabbed the comb and started untangling her hair then moving to flatten her fluffed up fur. If it was strange to wash her own fur, it was even stranger to comb it. However, something about running the comb's teeth down her back felt good, even if she tried not to enjoy it. Moving out of the bathroom, she picked up the clothes she was given and put them on. It was a simple purple top and a pair of jeans, along with underwear and socks. She put them all on, grateful for just these simple things. She threw all her other clothes away since they were too torn up to keep, except for her shoes which she put on quickly. As she tied the laces, she looked around the room.

The furniture was simple, a bed, dresser and a desk. On the desk, there were some pictures and mementos. Mira stood up for a closer look, glancing at the images of snow capped mountains and a beautiful city. There was a framed photo of the Road Rovers. As Mira picked it up for a closer inspection, something clicked in her mind. The items on the desk made the room too personal for a guest room. And that meant that it belonged to someone, to one of the Road Rovers. From the other pictures, Mira would have guessed they were of Russia. She cringed as she came to the conclusion that this was Exile's room. That meant she slept in his bed, and it was his shirt she wore to the door. Now she was on a whole new level of embarrassment.

Remembering that she wanted to apologize to the husky, she grabbed her pink heart necklace from the bathroom and put it on before leaving the room. Thinking that she may have to wander around to find Exile, Mira was surprised to see him sitting just outside the door.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were waiting for me," she said, feeling even guiltier for taking her time. She had a hard time looking him in the eyes. "And sorry about before, at the door. . ." she let her voice trail off.

Exile quickly apologized too and explained that he should have given her something to wear the night before. However, after he spoke, Mira just gave him a confused look and he wondered if he said something wrong in English again.

Mira starred at Exile, not knowing if she should tell him he was speaking in another language. Even in her mind, she heard what sounded like a curse in Russian. Mira just smiled nervously and asked, "Could you repeat that again?"

"I said it is okay. It is not your fault," Exile said, keeping it simple to prevent further mistakes. "Are you breakfast? I mean, are you hungry? Because there is Road Rovers for breakfast. I mean, is breakfast comfortable with you? I mean, are you comfortable with going there to breakfast. . . I mean. . ." After his first mistake, he just couldn't seem to stop. Usually he didn't have much trouble saying what he wanted to say, but he couldn't manage to say the right thing.

Mira couldn't help smiling at this, and waited until Exile had finished stumbling over the words before she said, "Am I going to need to have a translator?" she said with a tilt of her head. She laughed a little.

Exile smiled as well. "Sorry, it seems I am tongue-knotted this morning, but you know what I mean." He offered his arm to escort her.

Mira softly laughed again, and took his arm. "I would love to have breakfast," she told him. "Lead the way."

They both walked in comfortable silence for a while until grunting and metallic bumping noises slowly came toward them. To the surprise of the female cano-mutant, a rottweiler with a metal muzzle and straight jacket in a gurney bounced up to them.

Mira didn't know whether she was seeing a very unstable dog or an uncommon case of animal cruelty. She held onto Exile's arm tighter.

"You don't need be afraid of Muzzle. He may be crazy like cuckoo fox on full moon, but he won't hurt friends," he told Mira, and patted the rottweiler on the head. "

"Then why is he tied up like that?" Mira asked. She was getting some strange readings from Muzzle, a mess of chaotic images that didn't make sense. "Is he dangerous?"

"Only for bad guys. He is Road Rover secret weapon," Exile explained. "He causes damage like tornado on Kansas trailer park."

Muzzle, knowing he was being talked about, stuck his tongue out and hopped around for more attention. He was especially interested in the new cano-mutant, moving close to her for a sniff.

Mira put out a cautious hand as she would with a stray cat, but her face said that she was willing to pull it back at a moment's notice. When Muzzle had sniffed her fingers, she patted his head. "Good dog, Muzzle," she said more woodenly than she intended. There was something about Muzzle that kept her at unease, especially since she couldn't read him as well as other dogs with his chaotic thoughts. There was something unnatural about him. Well, more unnatural than the Road Rovers.

However, that seemed to be as much as Muzzle needed. He barked happily and hopped away.

Before they began walking again, Exile cast a glance back at Muzzle. It wasn't like the dog to say hi and then leave. He wondered if Hunter had been talking with the half-crazy cur.

Mira's mouth watered as they came to the door of the kitchen, her keen dog senses picking up savoring aromas. It wasn't until then that she realized she hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, and now she felt famished. "Oh, I'm so hungry," she moaned, and let go of Exile's arm when she saw who was cooking. "Good morning, Shag," she said happily.

"Roo rorah," Shag greeted, and picked Mira up in a hug.

"That smells really good, Shag," Mira told him, looking into the skillet happily.

Shag thanked her, and directed her to the table where Colleen was sitting. He pulled out a chair for her to sit on.

"I'm going to go look for Hunter," Exile told them, as if to ask them to watch Mira. "He will want to meet you."

A few moments after the husky left, Blitz entered with a strut. Just as Mira had done, he went straight to Shag who was back at the stove. "Mmmmm," he moaned as he sniffed the food. "I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into that. You are an artist." Then Blitz saw the new cano-sapien sitting at the table. With a smile, he went over to the girls.

Mira had greeted Colleen when she sat down, but at the sight of the doberman, she leaned over to the collie. "Pst, Colleen. I can't quite remember his name," she said, pointing behind her. "It's Blitz, right?"

"Who?" Colleen asked with a straight face.

Mira thought that the doberman's name was the German word for lightning, but she could be wrong. She thought she was good remembering names, but she couldn't be right all the time. "That guy. What's his name?" she asked again.

Colleen looked at him with one eye closed as if examining him. "Now who could that be?" she asked.

Colleen sounded so sincere in her question that it confused Mira. How could the two not know each other? Were they not both Road Rovers?

"Hi, pretty ladies. And how are you doing this morning?" He directed his question to Mira as he grabbed a chair next to hers, turned it around and sat in it suavely.

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

Mira smiled back as she spoke to him. "Uh. . .I seem to have forgotten your name. What is it?"

"It's Blitz."

"I was right," Mira said happily. She then turned to Colleen. "His name is Blitz, okay?" she told the collie. "Blitz, this is Colleen. Have you guys met?"

Colleen couldn't hold it in. She started laughing at how sincere Mira had introduced them.

Blitz glanced at Colleen, having an idea of what was going on here. "She knows who I am. She just pretends she doesn't, and then calls me funny names."

Mira frowned. She thought the collie was nice, but did she misjudge her? Was she some sort of snobby girl, like back in high school. "Well, that's kind of mean. What kind of names does she call you?"

Blitz looked sad. "She calls me things like Fluffy and Sugarbottom. She never calls me Blitz."

Mira put her hands on her face as she laughed at the names Blitz listed off, but then noticed how it hurt the dog she stopped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, Blitz," she told him with sympathy. "I know what it's like to be called names." He looked like such a beaten down puppy, she leaned over and patted him on the head. However, she stopped quickly. "Sorry. I probably shouldn't do that since you're not a dog. . .I mean a real dog."

"No, you can go ahead a pet me," Blitz told her readily. "I don't mind being petted by a pretty girl."

There it was again. He mentioned she was pretty. "You really think I am pretty?" she asked curiously. She wanted to know why.

"_Ja, _you are. You're so pretty, I would bite your tooshie," Blitz told her with a big smile.

Mira would have thought she heard it all, but that was something that she would never had expected. "What?" she asked, her lip turning up in slight disgust.

"I wouldn't bit you very hard, unless you liked it that way," Blitz told her, moving closer.

That's when Mira figured it all out. "Are you flirting with me?" she asked with understanding.

"I thought that was obvious," Blitz told her, his nose very close to hers.

Mira leaned away. _He does know I'm human and not a dog, right?_ Instead of saying anything, she just slowly pushed her chair away from him, keeping a close eye on him. _What is wrong with these dog people? Did the transformation do something to them to make them crazy?_

Colleen had watched this all with interest. It was interesting to see how Blitz acted around another girl. He seemed to thrive as Mira gave him attention, and he was actually happy. She didn't get to see him happy too often. She wondered why. After a while, she almost jumped in despite her running joke of teasing Blitz, but the new girl seemed to have it under control. She was satisfied once Mira scooted away from the doberman.

That's when Shag came in and set down plates for everyone before serving the food. Blitz and Colleen, quickly forgetting the previous conversation, ravenously ate up Shag's food.

Mira waited patiently for her turn, her stomach growling. It had been quite a while since she had anything home cooked; she'd been living off of ramen and mac n' cheese for a few years now. As Shag dished out the food, she thanked him animatedly for it.

At this time, Exile returned to the kitchen, Hunter following closely. He took one glance, and saw that Mira was lifting a fork full of Shag's cooking to her mouth. Alarms went off in his head as he quickly ran to her, slapped the fork away and shouted with a loud "_Net!_" grabbed the plate high above his head.

Mira was shocked to have her food torn out from under her nose, and she looked as if she were going to cry. She was so hungry. She turned her eyes onto Exile, looking none too please by his actions. "Why did you do that?" she asked, trying to keep her tone down.

Exile looked at the plate, then down at Mira. Her glaring eyes had taken the words away from him. "Uh. . .is for dogs. You wouldn't like."

"But it smells so good," she protested. "What the crap is in it that I can't eat? Some special dog chow or something."

Before Exile could answer, Colleen broke in. "No, nothing like that. It has all normal food. Cheese, sausage, bacon, onions, hash browns. No, no dog food," Colleen said happily.

Mira was about to shoot Exile another angry look for taking away her nice breakfast, but then Colleen continued on. "Oh, and Shag's special ingredient. Toilet water."

It took a while for those words to process, but when they eventually did, she felt ill. At the thought that she almost took a bite of it, she could taste throw up in the back of her throat. She looked at Blitz's plate, that he was eagerly munching out of, with disgust, and threw her arms around Exile. "I'll never doubt you again," she told him, hugging him tightly.

Exile wagged his tail at her display of affect, even if it was something so small as saving her from eating dog gourmet food. "Is no problem," he told her.

Behind Exile, Hunter stood and watched the scene. Normally he wasn't so shy that he wouldn't introduce himself, but he felt reserved around this human turned cano-sapien. He wondered if his hesitation was due to the over-all guilt he felt about not being able to help her or that he really was scared she'd kick him again. He tried to convince himself that she wasn't that kind of person, but some part of his canine mind couldn't let it go. Because of this, he was content to remain unnoticed for a while.

After a while, the girl noticed him and stood up.

Exile turned to Hunter and started the introduction. "Mira, this is Hunter. He is leader of Road Rovers," he told her.

Mira grew tense. She did not know that. _Holy crap, I kicked their leader in the nads!_ she thought nervously. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed Hunter's hands. The process startled the golden retriever, but that didn't stop her from saying passionately, "I'm so very sorry for what I did to you. Please forgive me!"

Hunter wasn't the only one surprised by Mira's boldness, everyone else's mouth hung open.

"What I did to you was inexcusable and horrible," Mira continued on, looking worriedly into his eyes. "I've never felt guiltier in my life. I'm very ashamed of myself."

Hunter said the first thing that came to his mind. He broke out in a large grin and said, "Hi, my name is Hunter. What's yours?"

Mira was dumbfounded as her hand was shaken after her the most heartfelt apology she had ever made. "Uh. . .my name is Mira."

"It's nice to meet you, Mira," Hunter said and shook her hand. "Let's be friends."

Mira looked like she almost wanted to cry again, and she looked down sadly. "But I hurt you. Aren't you mad?"

Hunter shook his head. "Hey, that's one of my super powers. I'm super-forgiving. So let's forget about it, okay?"

Mira couldn't help herself. She knew that dogs didn't hold a grudge for long, but hearing it spoken to her moved her. She couldn't help but do just what she did with the dogs she worked with. She hugged Hunter around the chest.

"You're such a good dog," she told him.

Hunter wagged his tail just as he usually did when he heard the words, "good dog." However, it didn't settle his unease since he intended to apologize to Mira during their meeting. She had beaten him to it.

"It's alright," he told her, and patted her on the head just as he did with Muzzle. "See, we're good friends already."

Even though Mira hated the feeling of having her head patted like she was some sort of kid, she was thankful that meeting Hunter had gone so well. She was worried that after kicking the leader of dog people in the balls wouldn't make him receptive to her plight. But what else could she have expected from a dog?

Just as they broke away from their embrace, Blitz popped up next to Hunter and Mira with a big smile.

"Is it my turn to get a hug?" Blitz asked, opening his arms for Mira.

"Sure is, comrade," Exile told him, and grabbed him into one of his crushing hugs.

Blitz gasped, and told the husky, "No, not from you."

Exile set him back down further away from Mira with a grin. "You hurt my feelings, Blitz," he said with fake sorrow.

At first Blitz looked offended, but then thoughtful. He raised an eyebrow at Exile before sitting back down quietly.

Mira laughed at this, remembering how the two fought the day before. She still couldn't decide if they were good friends, or this was just the way their relationship went. Then someone grabbed her arm.

"What? Hey," Mira said and tried to pull away from the grip out of reflex. However, she stopped as she wince in pain, and saw Hunter was closely examining her arm. Fresh blood was peeking out from under her fur.

"You are hurt," Hunter said, holding her arm gently.

Exile came closer when he heard what Hunter had said, and ignored the dizziness in his head when he saw the blood. "That is looking infected. You should have said something last night."

"I was tired and everything was happening so fast," Mira told them. "Besides I didn't think they'd reopen."

"You should take better care of yourself," Exile told her almost sternly, like someone would a small child.

"We should go back to the infirmary and treat these immediately," Hunter agreed, looking at the wound worriedly.

"Last time I checked, that was my line of work," Colleen broke in, moving between Mira and Hunter. She had a paper towel, and pressed it against Mira's arm. "I'll take care of her."

Mira looked sadly at the table. "But food. . ." she said forlornly.

Shag ran to the refrigerator, and came back with an already prepared sandwich and an apple on a plate for her.

Mira took it, and gave Shag a questioning look. "There isn't something I should know about this sandwich before I eat it?"

"Ru uh," Shag said while shaking his head.

"Yay," Mira cheered right before Colleen pulled her away. She turned back to the others and called out, "It was nice to meet you, Hunter."

Colleen shook her head. "Like a couple of mother hens," she muttered to herself. Well, she could be caring as well. She'd show them she had a heart of gold. She was determined to help this girl with all her problems and care about her even if it killed her.

"What?" Mira asked, hearing the collie say something.

"Nothin', Ducky. This way," Colleen directed once they were in the infirmary. "Now take your clothes off and sit down on the table," she said as she gathered some cotton swabs, anti-septic and clean bandages.

Mira took off her shirt and pants before she sat down on the silver table in her underwear. Mira set her plate on her lap and picked the sandwich up. Grateful for the food, she lifted it to her mouth, but the bread hit her chin instead. Looking down with annoyance, she realized she didn't take in account the new shape of her mouth, and she tried again. As she now chewed on her food, she looked to see Colleen was laughing at her.

"Waf?" she asked, hungrily taking another bite before she even swallowed the first.

"Slow down there or you'll choke," Colleen told her motherly. "And hold still while I treat your wounds."

Mira lifted her arms and legs and moved wherever else for Colleen as she ate, feeling like she was being man-handled since Colleen's bedside manner left something to be desired. She had no idea she had so many lacerations on her legs, arms and back until the anti-septic bit into them. But Colleen was talkative, telling jokes as if she weren't applying stinging medicine into open wounds. Mira tolerated the cano-sapien's rough treatment until her sandwich and apple were gone, then she wasn't so compliant.

"That's enough. I hurt more from that stuff than from the actual sores," Mira snapped, yanking back her arm. "I'm fine."

"Don't be daft. Just a few more. It's not that bad," Colleen said, and grabbed Mira's arm again.

"No, stop it. Just slap on a few band-aids and let me go," Mira said, pulling away again with more strength and a large frown.

Since the get-go, Colleen had trouble figuring out this girl. She felt uneasy around her and didn't know why. Last night, she also felt like she couldn't read Mira as well as she would the Road Rovers. It had been bugging her since Mira had arrived, but then she realized what it was. She reached up and grabbed Mira's pointy dark grey ears.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mira asked. She tried to pull away, but it was too painful. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"

"Down," Colleen said, and pulled the ears down. "Up. Down. Up. Down. Happy. Angry. Happy. Angry. Yep, they're working alright."

Once the collie let go of her ears, Mira pulled away and cupped them with her hands. "What's wrong with you? What did you do that for?"

"Just checking to see if your ears still work since you don't seem to use them," Colleen said, and moved behind Mira.

Mira's eyes widened as she felt the strange sensation of having her tail grabbed, and she squeaked. "Stop that," Mira cried, her voice whiner than she intended. "Don't do that." She tried to pull away, but Colleen had a tight grip.

Colleen let go with an indifferent shrug. "As I said, I was just checking to see if everything works."

Mira scooted away from Colleen in case the female tried something else on her. "You're crazy."

"I just thought that maybe the transformation wasn't complete. After all, you don't move your ears or tail whether your sad or happy or whatever," Colleen said, not looking guilty at her man handling. "Or maybe I'm wrong, and you just don't feel anything."

Mira looked taken aback by that. Her hands were behind her back to protect her backside, but then she looked angry. "That's 'cause I'm human. I'm not used to wagging a tail and bearing my teeth," she snapped. Then she glanced back at her tail. "Besides, I don't even know which muscles to use. And it gives me the creeps to feel it back there." She continued to look back at her tail with a look of concentration. "How do you move it?" she asked Colleen.

Colleen grinned widely and said, "Like this." Then she grabbed Mira's tail again, and started shaking it around.

"Stop it," Mira shouted, feel the chill go up her spine again at having her tail touched. "That's so weird. Let go!" And without realizing it, she flicked her tail out of Colleen's grasp.

"There, you did it," Colleen said with a smile.

Mira, still looking violated, looked down at her tail. She tried to remember what she did to move it, slowly thinking about the muscles and bones extending from her spine, concentrating on each moving joint. She even touched her tail a little to teach her brain where the muscles were. After a few minutes, she was able to move the tail in a little, small wave. Even though it was strange to her, she was proud of herself for the accomplishment.

"Hey, I did it," Mira said, and looked at the collie.

When Mira had made that announcement, Colleen had just finished medicating and bandaging the rest of Mira's sores while the girl was busy with her tail. She put the last bandage on with a soft tap, and said, "And you're all finished. There, that wasn't so bad. You get a wolly pop for being so good." She held out a small, cheap sucker out to Mira.

Mira at first looked confused since she had no idea Colleen had continued to nurse her. Then she was mad for being treated like a little child, first tricked to pay attention to something else while Colleen worked, and then given a treat. Mira jumped off the table, and was about to give the collie a piece of her mind.

"Are you angry?" Colleen asked before Mira could open her mouth.

"Yes, I am," Mira said immediately. She deepened her frown.

"You don't look it," Colleen said. Then she reached up, and pulled Mira's ears back so they were pinned against her hair. "There you go. You're an angry doggy, yes you are," she said happily.

Mira had never had her space intruded upon so much, and, especially after her scare yesterday, felt as if she wasn't being taken seriously. Colleen was teasing her by treating her like a dog. Did she not really understand that she was a human being? Who did these Road Rover's think they are? They said they would do what they could to help her out, to return her to normal, to feel safe, and then they go and do this. Mira grumbled under her breath as pulled on her clothes roughly despite her wounds. Before stomping out of the room, she grabbed the sucker Colleen had offered with a glare.

As she went down the hallway with the sucker in her mouth, she looked for a place of refuge since she was not in the mood to talk to anyone. The door next to the infirmary was dimly lit and a soft beeping noise came from it.

Since it looked like the best place to hide out for a while, she went in hoping it wasn't somewhere she shouldn't be. It didn't take a hard look for her to see a little dog lying on a bed, bandages on his fur where the whip had torn the skin, an IV in his leg to give him liquids and wires attaching him to a heart monitor. There was a chair next to the bed. She pulled it up beside him so she could sit down as she at him. She put her head on the bed, and started petting him.

"How you doing, buddy?" she asked just as she would the dogs she knew at her job. "Not too good? Me neither. We've wondered in a weird and worrisome world, haven't we?"

The dog didn't answer, but Mira could see in her mind an image of Dash running in a grassy field while his master threw a frisbee to him. He was dreaming while in his comma.

"You seem to be in a better place than I am, boy," Mira told him. And suddenly, she had an over whelming feeling of home sickness.

* * *

He had been working all night long, and he was starting to get tired. He had slept a little in the wooden cabin that had been his safe haven, but that wasn't enough for the past two days of fatigued. But he continued to work; Parvo wouldn't let him rest.

Patel glanced back at the door. The guard was one of the dog monsters that the general had called a "cano-mutant". It held a weapon, and glared menacingly at Patel as he paused in his work. Patel turned his head back to the project he was working on.

Parvo had instructed him to work on rebuilding his old device, giving the professor access to all the parts he would need, his old experiments and the blue prints of Shepherd's transdogmafier so that the professor could adapt the device to the machine. Ravi noticed right away that Parvo hadn't given him anything he could use to make a weapon, so the general seemed confidence to leave him with only a guard. But anything could be made into a weapon, you just had to know how to use it.

Patel set the final chip in place, and then closed the panel of his new invention. It was a metallic cylinder shaped device with only one button. Light and easy to use, it wasn't intended to have the same powerful effect as Shepherd's device, but it would be useful.

Without wasting any more time, Ravi walked directly to his guard with the device in hand, and pointed it at the cano-mutant. He pressed the button, and a ray of invisible particles shot out at the cano-mutant. The effect of the ray was immediate; the pit bull mutant quickly shrank back to its original form, tongue hanging out and tail wagging. Patel pushed passed it and moved to the door. However, right as he reached for the handle, it turned and swung open. Patel came face to face with General Parvo. Quickly, he raised the device up to Parvo's face, even though he assumed the ray would have no effect on the general.

"Professor, what are you doing?" Parvo growled, approaching the smaller man with a menacing face. His eyes roamed around the room and then locked on the normal dog that was now scratching its ear. He looked back at the device the professor brandished. "What have you been up to professor? What is that?"

"I made it to fix all those mistakes you made," Ravi told him, determined to find a way out of this mess. "I'm going to make sure you can't use any innocent creatures for your twisted plan."

Parvo connected what had happened, and his eyes widened in terror even as he tried not to show it. "Now, professor. Just put that down. What good will it do you here? There are no cano-mutants. Put it down and get back to work, and I'll forget about this. I promised you I'd let you go once you built me an improved transdogmafier," Parvo told Patel in a soothing voice.

Prof. Patel could see that the general was shaken by the device in his hand. He used that to his advantage by strengthening his gripe and stepping closer. "Move out of the way, Parvo, or I'll use it. I don't know what it'll do to you, but I will use it," he threatened.

Parvo growled as he realized his weakness was found out, and angrily stepped away from the door. He wasn't sure himself what it would do to him, but he wasn't about to take the gamble.

Ravi kept an eye on the large man, always pointing the device at him. Once at the door, he started to shut it while stepping out. However, a dark hand came from behind, and pulled the device from the professor's grip. The professor was wretched around as the device was ripped from his hand, and grunted at the sight of the stranger.

A second hand grabbed the professor around the collar, and lifted him into the air with ease. A large, ebony skinned man dressed in a tailored, black, military-style uniform stepped through. The uniform wasn't decorated in any medals nor was there any indication of the country it belonged to. The man was tall, nearly as tall as Parvo, and he had on a calm and disciplined neutral look.

"You almost lost your greatest asset, general," the man said in a deep voice, a slight hint of sarcasm came with the last word. His African accent made him sound more threatening than his tone was. "It is fortunate that I have come to check up on you."

While Parvo was grateful that the device was no longer pointing at him, he frowned at the stranger. "Who are you? How did you get into my base?"

"I'll answer your questions once your prisoner is secured," the man said with a smirk. "And I have a few questions for the professor regarding this intriguing device."

Parvo clenched his fists. Who was this man who acted like he was in charge in his base? He wanted to punch the man, but he had the device in his hands. Parvo didn't let his eyes leave the contraption.

"You're interested in this too, aren't you Parvo?" the man said, looking sadistically at the larger man. "I wonder, what would happen if he actually did use it on you? Well, we both have an idea, don't we?"

Parvo could feel his blood boiling. Did this man know his horrible secret, or was he just bluffing? He breathed through his teeth, smoldering in his hatred for this man.

"Don't look at me like that, Parvo. Believe it or not, I am your friend. At least for now." The man laughed, and hauled Patel back to his work space. "Interesting gadget you have there, professor. You really are a genius to be able to reverse engineer Shepherd's blueprints to create an anti-transdogmafier. How did you make it so powerful in such a small space?"

Ravi didn't have enough energy from lack of sleep to resist. He answered slowly. "It doesn't have that much power? It's only a cheap knockoff. The effects of the ray will only last a few minutes, depending on how long the canine's DNA has been mutated."

"Fascinating," the man said, and looked down at the pit bull that had trotted up to his side. "It seems like your faithful guard will return to normal here shortly, Parvo. Lucky you."

"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" Parvo asked again.

The man shook his head. "You can call me Heph," he said with a smile. "But the rest of my answers will be given after we take care of the professor here. Ms. Lao, come in."

A small Chinese woman in a pencil, black skirt, matching business jacket over a lavender button-up shirt walked in. She wore modest heals and thin framed glasses. Her hair was tied in neat bun, and she had no make-up on, not that she needed it. Her face was as cold and smooth as stone.

"Yes, sir?" she asked neatly.

"I'm putting you in charge of giving the professor the attention he needs so he is fit to continue his work," Heph commanded. "And do watch him so he doesn't get in any more trouble."

"It will be done," she said in a practiced voice.

While this was going on, two things happened. One, the pit bull was turned back into its old, snarling self, the effects of Patel's machine having worn off. Second, General Parvo took out his cell phone and contacted the Groomer. He informed her of the trespassers and told her to bring more cano-mutants and weapons. He kept his grin to himself to keep from tipping of Heph.

"A word to the wise," Heph said, turning to address Parvo now. "You should treat your guests a lot better. Patel can't make you anything if you work him to death."

As Ms. Lao took charge of the professor, the Groomer ran in with a squadron of cano-mutants, ready for combat.

"Groomer, hurry. Take that man down," Parvo ordered.

Heph quickly turned around and without hesitation, quickly used the professor's device to turn each of the cano-mutants back in their original form. "Stand down, Agent 349," he ordered in a booming voice.

The Groomer lowered her weapon.

"Groomer. Get him," Parvo shouted, his veins straining. "I told you to atta. . ." His words were cut off as he doubled over in a coughing fit. He strained to breath in between the spasms.

The Groomer moved toward him in concern, taking out the lozenges dispenser for him. However, she looked hurt when the general pushed him away.

"Who are you?" he accused Groomer.

"She is Agent 349, a lowly but loyal soldier for the Eris Project. We assigned her to you when we believed you had potential to help us achieve our goal, _General_ Parvo," Heph broke in. "Do not be mad at her, she's only doing what she's been ordered to do. She has been a most helpful assistant, hasn't she? She's been able to get you enough test subjects, equipment, funding, whatever you needed, did she not? She's been with you from the very beginning. However, you do not remember when that was after your jaunt through time."

"You know about that?" Groomer asked in surprise.

"We've monitored everything that you've done, including you going back into time. We even know that little question that you've been agonizing over, Parvo," Heph said calmly, a sadistic smile on his face. "Are you a cat turned into a human, or a human turned into a cat?"

"I am human!" Parvo shouted, and then launched into another coughing fit.

"You go right ahead and tell yourself that. But can you convince yourself that that's true?" Heph said with a raised eyebrow. "But it matters not to us. You can go around pretending to be whatever you wish, as long as you don't get in our way."

"If you've been watching me, then you know what my ultimate goal is," Parvo growled. "You can't stop me from dominating the world."

"By all means, general, dominate it. We aren't trying to stop you," Heph told Parvo, looking condescendingly down at him. "Your goals help ours, whether you succeed or not."

Parvo looked confused. "And just what are your goals?"

"It's very simple, really," Tartus said proudly. "All we want is to throw the world into complete chaos."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"We have many reasons, the largest being that in a chaotic world, we will be the ones that rule," Heph told Parvo. "We're not trying to send the world to hell, but if they intend on going down there, we have the equipment they need for a price."

"You're a weapons dealer," Parvo summarized.

"Not necessarily," Heph contradicted. "We have many different smaller projects besides the dealing of weapons. One of them is trafficking of certain scientific experiments that could be useful to some of our more illustrious clients. That's where you come in, general."

"You're after the transdogmafier," Parvo said, getting defensive. "I won't give it up."

"Relax, Parvo. We're not interested in it as of yet. Your claim on that device is still yours for the moment. We're very interested in what the professor will make in the future, but that is not the main reason I'm here," Heph said, holding his hands up to calm Parvo down. "We've been very grateful that you've kept a certain group of canine vigilantes at bay for us."

"The Road Rovers," Parvo said, suddenly relaxing. He smiled gleefully. "I'm assuming they've given you trouble too."

"They've stopped some of our projects cold in their feet, including one of our more successful arms dealer, Gustav Havoc, and put away one of our special agents, Zachery Storm," Heph named off the two more famous run-ins with the Road Rovers. He saw Parvo raise an eyebrow at the names, so he must have heard of them. "However, they seemed to have taken a special interest in you. We're willing to give you aid in getting rid of them."

This caught Parvo's interest. "You're going to help me? How?"

"As much as I am able, although my colleagues and superior isn't very happy with you as of lately," Heph said, frowning. "I almost had to turn you over to the Hades team since others believe you are a waste of funding."

The Groomer gasped at that, but didn't say a word.

Parvo looked at his assistant then at Heph. "And what if I don't want your help."

"Listen to him, General," Groomer pleaded, and touched his arm. "He could kill you."

Parvo looked as if he wanted to attack Heph.

"You may think that I can't since I am just one man, but the organization I work for is very big. They have ways," Heph told him. "It's simple really. It wouldn't be hard to take away your control over your cano-mutants. They'd be able to do what they want, and not have to listen to anybody. And your helmet may be able to hide your feline attributes from the human world, but can you mask your scent from a dog's nose?"

Parvo growled one last time, but then backed down. He had nothing and could do nothing.

Heph nodded in satisfaction before continuing on. "You'll be given what you need for the professor, and I'll help you personally to take care of the Road Rovers. Do this for us, Parvo, and we'll leave you alone with your hopes of world domination. Defy us, and you'll have the wrath of Olympus down on you."

"If you're so powerful, why can't you take care of the Road Rovers yourselves?" Parvo asked with an appraising eye.

Heph just smiled secretively. "Why, indeed? We have our reasons," he told the general. However, anger churned within him at that question. Parvo had hoped to hit a tender mark or find some sort of weakness, but Heph wasn't about to let him know that he was on target. Project Eris had noticed the Road Rovers a little too late. They had underestimated the canines when they were small and unnoticeable. However, their members had grown all over the world, and the problem became too big for them. Even with all their influence and technology, they couldn't even find the Road Rover's head quarters or track them down. They had several special agents looking for a way to take down Shepherd's organization, but they were all a flop. Heph believed that Parvo knew more about the canine super heroes more than others, and with a little help, could succeed in destroying them. But Heph didn't want Parvo to know any of this; he had to keep up the illusion that they were in charge, and that they knew what they were doing. They were doing a favor to let Parvo take care of the Road Rovers. That's how one stayed in charge.

"For an indefinite period of time, Ms. Lao and I will be staying with you to monitor and assist you in your duties. But don't think that we're taking over, this is your base after all," Heph said congenially. "I look forward to working along side you, general." With that Heph walked out of the room.

Parvo slumped down in a chair, feeling more humiliated than any other defeat the Road Rovers had handed to him. It was a low blow to him to learn he hadn't been in charge of his life. That man had indicated that he had gotten this far only because of this Project Eris. Everything he had done, it wasn't because he had worked for it, but because someone decided he could have it. And if he became the ruler of the world, it will only be because someone else let him.

"General, are you okay?" Groomer asked, touching his shoulder with concern.

"Leave me," Parvo growled, feeling another sting as the woman who he thought was completely loyal to him out of choice had betrayed him. Was everything she told him, everything she felt about him, everything she had done for him, was it all a lie?

"General, please. Let me explain," Groomer pleaded, moving closer.

"Leave me!" General Parvo shouted, and pushed the woman away.

Groomer jumped back at the outburst, and quickly did as she was told.

* * *

After Colleen had pulled Mira out of sight, Hunter quickly ate the breakfast Shag provided, and left the breakfast area. He went directly to The Master's part of Head Quarters with a request.

"Yes, Hunter?" The Master asked when the golden retriever stepped in.

"Master, is there anything you can do for Mira?" Hunter asked, looking hopefully at the human. "She's gone through so much, and she shouldn't have had to. Is there any way she could be turned back and returned home?"

Shepherd thought for a while. "I would have liked to keep her around for observation to see if she remembers anything else about Parvo's plan and to find out exactly how my old enemy changed her, but you're right. It's not fair of us to keep her here. No doubt Parvo used the same technology he stole from me to change Mira, so the transdogmafiers that I built should reverse the process."

"Then she can be turned back easily," Hunter said with a bright smile.

"I have no doubt about it," Shepherd told Hunter with a smile. "You're a good dog thinking about her."

Hunter wagged his tail. "It's all part of being super."

The Master walked up to Hunter, and put his arm around the leader's shoulder. "Then let's go find her, and give her the good news."

The two went right to the infirmary. However, they stopped as they heard yelling coming from the room. When it stopped, Mira came storming out with a sucker in her mouth and stomped down the hall. However, she turned quickly into the room next to the infirmary, and they followed cautiously.

Hunter was the first to peek in. He stayed quiet as Mira quietly talked to the unconscious dog. Her voice was so sad that he was all too willing to rush in there, and give her the good news. However, a hand stopped him.

Shepherd saw something else when he looked in. He had not seen his old colleague's dog before, and the sight of Mira next to Dash set off sparks in his brain. Lines connected and everything made sense. He knew what Parvo had been after, what that device did and exactly what happened when it exploded. He knew exactly why Mira was the way she was, and what needed to be done to return her to normal. And it saddened him what he had to say to her.

He cleared his throat, and Mira turned to see the two of them standing in the doorway.

"Oh, I didn't hear you guys," Mira said, and she wiped at her eye in a subtle way.

"Uh, Mira. I have some news for you," Shepherd said, his voice bland and robotic. "I'm afraid that it's not entirely good."

Mira gave him a worried look, and Hunter turned to him in surprise.

Mira looked to Shepherd, then Hunter and then back again. "What is it? What happened?"

"It's about how you turned into a cano-sapien," Shepherd told her. "I thought that Parvo must have done something to you, but now I'm not so sure."

"But Master, you said. . ." Hunter began, his face looking worried.

Shepherd shook his head. "That was before I saw the dog. Look, they're so much alike that it can't be coincidence."

Hunter did notice. Mira did look like a more human and feminine version of Dash. Her muzzle wasn't as big and her fur wasn't as long, but there was no mistaking Dash's colors on her.

"So does Dash have something to do with me being changed?" Mira asked, petting the small dog again.

"I believe it does," Shepherd agreed. "You see, Prof. Patel was working on a way to use human DNA to make dogs smarter and live longer. I believe the device you destroyed was part of that project, and somehow in the explosion, it transferred Dash's DNA into you. I'm sure of it."

Mira's eyebrows formed together and, if she wasn't so furry, she'd have wrinkles on her forehead. "So, now that you've figured it out, you can fix it, right?" she inquired.

Shepherd looked down. "Unfortunately, without the knowledge of how Prof. Patel created the device and what he used to splice the DNA, I'm afraid I'm at a loss. There's nothing that I can do for you."

Mira looked horrified. "You mean I'm stuck like this? Forever?" she half-shouted, voice cracking.

"Not necessarily. I can't do anything for you, but Prof. Patel can," Shepherd assured her. "He's our high priority now, and we're doing everything we can to find him. But it may prove difficult since we have no idea where Parvo is keeping him. I'm afraid that you'll have to stay here at Road Rovers HQ for an indefinite amount of time."

"No. I can't stay here," Mira told them. "What about everything I left behind? I can't just forget about everything." She looked devastated.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing else we can do," Shepherd told her. "You can't go home like that."

Mira shook her head and bit her lip. _No, this can't happen. Not when my life was going right. Not when I was working toward my dream_. Everything was bubbling up inside her; emotions were mixing together and pulling her in all directions. And then she did what she normally did when she was upset. She ran out of the room, pushing through the two to get out, and ran at full speed down the hall. She had no idea where she was going, but she just ran and ran, wearing down her frustrations into exhaustion. She was so involved in her running, she didn't notice as she passed one of the Road Rovers that was in the hall. She just wanted to burn off her negative energy until she couldn't feel anything.

She stopped running when her breath was spent. Then she walked, holding her side where it hurt. As she walked, she looked around and moved down one hall to another, occasionally coming to a door and taking a peek inside. It wasn't long before she found a very large room with high tech equipment all over the place and large tubes coming down from the ceiling and connecting into one tube right before opening up at the floor. Where the tube ended, five roller coaster like carts sat on a track. Near where the carts sat were five cylindrical machines with sliding doors. It looked like something from a space movie.

The curious cano-sapien went inside for a better look, and screamed a bit when one of the cylindrical machine doors opened with a hiss and a cloud of smoke. She hid behind one of the carts, and peered out to see what would come from the machine. To her surprise, the only thing that came out of the machine was a regular doberman pincer.

The doberman sneezed from the smoke, and then stretched with a wide yawn.

Mira forgot about how she was stuck in this strange body and strange world. She didn't know they had regular dogs here, and was excited to see something familiar to her. She slowly moved out from behind the cart with her hand out and called to the dog.

"Here, boy. Come here, handsome boy," she said invitingly.

The doberman looked up at the sound of Mira's voice, and the instant he heard the word "handsome" a big, goofy puppy-grin came across his face. Wagging his stubby tail, he quickly went to Mira, bowling her over for attention.

Mira laughed at how quickly the doberman came to her, knelt down and scratching his ears and back. "Oh, are you a big sweetie. Yes, you are," she cooed, and let the dog lick her face and climb into her lap

As Mira doted over the doberman, a cano-mutant came to the room entrance. Hunter, true to his name, had tracked Mira down by her scent. He meant to talk to her after The Master had given her such shocking news, but was surprised to see that she didn't look upset. For once, Blitz must have done something right.

He decided that he could still ask to see if he could do something else for her, and walked in. When she turned at the sound of his footsteps, Hunter greeted her. "Hey there. I'm sorry that things aren't going so well for you," he said lamely. It was the first thing that came to mind, but it was the truth. "I want you to know that as long as you stay here, if you need anything, you can come to me. I want you to feel as comfortable here as possible."

Mira, still hugging Blitz, nodded. "You're so nice, but I don't know how comfortable I can be," she said, frowning. "My whole life is still going on without me. I had things to do. I had plans for the weekend. My parents are going to worry. They'll think I'm dead. And I had leftovers in the fridge that'll go bad soon. Not to mention my dreams were put to a stop."

"Your dreams?" Hunter inquired.

"Yeah, my dreams. I finally was called back for a second dance audition. It's only a small part in a dance routine, but it's the first step to becoming a real dancer," Mira said, looking happier as she looked down at Blitz. "I've always wanted to be a dancer on Broadway. I've been dancing since I was little, and I thought that finally I was going to be living my dream. I was heading for New York City when that Groomer chick ran me off the road and dragged me away." Mira put her head on her palms, and sighed. "Now I don't even have my dance shoes or my music. I think more than anything that would make me feel better to just be able to dance. Everything seems different when you're swaying to the music and moving to the beat. But at least I should be grateful enough that I don't need a hearing aide. Now I don't need special head phones."

Hunter thought about this. "Where are your dance shoes?" he asked.

"They're in my bag with my other stuff. I guess they're still in my parents' car. I wonder if someone's towed it off already," Mira wondered. She didn't get to say another word when Hunter suddenly disappeared in flash, the hot wind in his wake causing Mira's hair to flip all over. She hung onto Blitz with wide eyes. "Holy crap. What's going on? Hunter, where did you go?" she shouted, looking all around her. She pulled Blitz closer. "There's something strange going on here, boy. What did Hunter just do?" Mira could sense that the Doberman was trying to reassure her as he whined and licked her face.

In less than a minute, the hot wind returned as did Hunter. In his hands was a worn out black bag that was familiar to Mira.

"Wha?" she gaped in amazement as the bag was handed to her. "But. . .how. . .?"

"It's just a little thing I do," Hunter said with a big grin.

"Neat trick," Mira said. "Sorry, but I don't have a treat for you."

Hunter laughed at that.

"So, what else can you do? Do you have any other super powers?" Mira asked, looking a lot happier as she had her bag. "What about the others?"

"Sure, but maybe it'll be more fun if you find out for yourself," Hunter told her secretively. Then he looked down at Blitz and pointed at him. "And speaking of which, it's time for you to go home."

Blitz whined, and put his head down as if to say he wanted to stay.

"Come on, Blitz. In you go," Hunter said, and led the doberman to the cart to take him back to Germany.

"Oh, does he have to go?" Mira said sadly, following after him. She watched as Blitz jumped into the cart. "Bye-bye, Blitz. Blitz?"

Blitz sat down and waved his paw at her before Hunter flipped the switch to send him up the shoot.

"That was Blitz?" Mira asked again. "The big Arnold Schwartiniger guy that hit on me?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"But how did he get so cute?" Mira said with a tilt of her head. "Do you all turn into dogs?"

"Yeah. We don't stay here all the time. We have masters that we live with, although they're all very busy so they don't notice if we're gone for a day or two," Hunter told her with a smile.

"Secret identities. So you really are super heroes," Mira said in awe.

"Basically."

"Do I get to find out who your master is?"

"It wouldn't be a secret then, would it?"

Mira laughed at that, and looked at the tube that split into five different directions. She wondered where they would go. Was Blitz the pet of some sort of military guy? Or maybe a movie actor? Where did they go when they left? Did they think like dogs when they change, or do they still have human-like intelligence? "Interesting," she whispered as her imagination continued on.

Hunter picked up Mira's bag again. "So, are you going to dance for me?" Hunter asked with a small smile.

In any other circumstances, having a guy ask her to dance for him sounded either dirty or creepy, but Mira knew that Hunter was just trying to cheer her up. "I'd love to," she said with a nod of her head. She pulled out her dance shoes, and took off her sneakers. However, to her dismay, when she tried to fit the dainty ballet shoes onto her feet, she found that her furry feet with now larger toes and claws didn't fit into them. She remembered the story of Cinderella, and tears came to her eyes as she realized that even if she was able to put her feet into the shoes, the rough, hard claws of her canine feet would tear up the soft material. In frustration, she threw them across the room, and hung her head.

"Why can't anything go right?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"It's okay. It's okay," Hunter reassured her, moving to her side much like a dog would. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you."

Mira wiped away a tear before looking up at him in disbelief. "What?" she asked, her face twisted as she tried to understand. "It's not your fault that my shoes don't fit anymore."

Hunter hung his head. "It probably is," he said softly.

Mira shook her head. "You didn't kidnapped me. That general guy did. It wasn't your fault."

"But I'm the leader. If I was a better leader, we would have prevented you from turning out this way," Hunter told her sadly. "I'm not living up to the title of super hero. I'm not even sure of how much of a hero I am."

Mira could sense the feelings of guilt that Hunter was giving off, and guessed what he was so upset about. "You shouldn't try to hold up the sky, Hunter," she reassured him. "Nobody expects you to. You've done the best you can, and I thank you for it."

Hunter dropped his head on Mira's shoulder, much like a dog would. "You're a good human, Mira," he told her with a wag of his tail.

Mira laughed as she pushed him away, thinking it was hilarious how both of them were so alike with their apologies. She then dug through her bag, and pulled out her cell phone. "Come on, Hunter. It's time we shake off these blues. After all, things can only get better after ground zero." She opened her phone, pressed a few buttons and then closed it. After a while, the small speakers of the phone started to play music. The beat was strong and fast, and Mira bounced in rhythm. "Let's dance. I don't need shoes to enjoy myself," she said, and grabbed Hunter's hands so he'd stand up.

"Uh. . .I can't dance," he said, looking a little worried. "Besides, isn't that for kitty cats?"

Mira laughed at his joke. "This is freestyle. You just move to the music, don't even think about it," Mira said, and swung her hips and moved her feet.

After a while, Hunter loosened up from Mira's coaxing, and soon the two were moving about in a silly manner and laughing at each other. After a few songs, Hunter declined to more dancing and sat down.

Mira continued to twirl around, still smiling brightly. Then she remembered that Hunter asked her to dance for him, and she wanted to show him something a bit more professional than twirling. "Would you like to see my audition routine?" Mira asked Hunter. Before Hunter could answer, she was flipping through her phone looking for a specific song.

When she found the write song, she stood completely still as the music started. It was soft and slow, and she began with graceful ballet moves. Mira knew she couldn't do as well since she had to balance on the balls of her feet instead of on toes, but she went through the routine, trying her best to overcome that problem. As the song went on, it suddenly stopped and started again on a very quick beat. Her movements became faster and quicker. She moved gracefully, her turns and jumps causing her hair to fly all around. And through this all, she was smiling.

Hunter tapped his head to the beat as he watched, but he wasn't the only spectator. In the door way, another pair of eyes watched.

After seeing Mira then Hunter run by in the hall, Exile had followed them to the room. Sensing that Hunter wanted to talk to the girl alone, he had watched them from a distance. He didn't know why he stayed, he just wanted to. He watched them say good-bye to Blitz, talk and then start dancing. As the two danced, Exile tapped his foot to the beat as he watched, thinking that he should go in and join them. It looked fun to dance in the carefree way Mira moved with her bright smile. He couldn't help but smile to himself since it was obvious that it was obvious that this was something she loved very much.

And then she started dancing by herself in that graceful manner. She still smiled, but it was peaceful and determined. She put her whole soul into the routine. And Exile couldn't stop watching her move. His desire to join in to dance was gone, and he knew that he would be clumsy and heavy footed next to her lithe grace. But he was content to watch her. When she stopped dancing, he wished she didn't. His heart was pounding like a hammer against his chest, and suddenly he felt embarrassed that he had been watching for so long without saying anything. His emotions stirred within him, something he had never felt before. Then Mira looked toward the doorway, and he jerked back out of sight.

As Mira stood still after the final note, she thanked Hunter for his applause and bowed. She was breathing heavily, but was happy. She could still dance after everything. That was all she needed.

Suddenly she felt another presence nearby that was sending some strong emotions. It was affectionate feelings, but not the usual kind she got from dogs. This one was stronger, deeper. It didn't come from Hunter; she was reading friendliness from him. She looked up at the doorway where she thought she saw someone, but nobody was there. Shrugging it off, she turned her attention back to Hunter to chat some more.

* * *

After a quick run through of the base, taking inventory of the security and defense systems, the cano-mutant soldiers and the weapons, Heph circled around the underground compound for a second look. It had gone better than he had expected. General Parvo had given in without much of a fight. He argued against Heph taking over for a while, but a few hidden threats and a promise that they'll leave him alone eventually made the bigger man back down. WGroomer's assistance, while not needed, did smooth over the transaction. He had supervised Ms. Lao's assignment of taking care of the professor before exploring Parvo's lair, and when he was finished, he came back to her.

"Any news from outside?" he asked his assistant.

Ms. Lao, from her post outside the professor's room as both guard and protector, took out her Blackberry, and touched a few buttons. "The recon team has reported what they found on the black boxes. They sent an interesting video file that they think you'd like to see." She pressed a few buttons before handing it over to her superior.

Heph watched the video feed. It was in grayscale, a little fuzzy with no sound, but what the video indicated was very clear. He watched as an unknown woman with a small dog ran into the room the camera was filming. The woman ducked behind a table before Groomer appeared in the hallway. The woman threw something in the air, and there was a flash of light. When the light cleared, Groomer was gone and there was fire all over the room. There was no sign of the woman. Then three of the Road Rover freaks came in, cleared away the fire and some of the debris. They stood over the place where the woman had been, and talked for a while. Then one of them picked up a human like body, but it was no human.

Heph stopped the video, and starred at the image of the creature. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. "Yes, that was very interesting," Heph told his assistant, but there was no hint of a smile on his face. "I want you to find Agent 349 and get all the information you can on this woman. And I mean everything. Get some of the agents that you know are loyal to me, and have them wait at this girl's house, her work, her school, her family and friend's houses, everywhere she would appear. I'll wager my life that either she or these Road Rovers will appear there. The best way to get rid of an enemy is let them come to you."

"What are the men's orders?" Ms. Lao said, entering the information on her Blackberry.

"They are to capture without killing any and all canine beings within the vicinity. It's a high priority that the men do not harm this girl. And when the professor is rested, have him begin duplicating this device," Heph said, lifting up the anti-mutator and handing it to Ms. Lao. "I want at least a dozen of them by tomorrow, and with more power.."

"Yes sir," Ms. Lao said primly and saluted. She was about to turn away, but Heph stopped her again.

"Oh, and one more thing, Ms. Lao. This little tidbit is secure information. Don't let on what's happened to Age 349 or the general," Heph said, even though it was unnecessary. Ms. Lao understood that Heph preferred that information came to him but did not leak out. She had been in his confidence for too long to not know this. One did not betray the trust of the Project.


	5. Chapter 5: Run Away

Half-Breed

Chapter 5: Run Away

By Emilou aka Hatashi Kitty

"Emergency meeting for all Road Rovers present."

The Master's voice echoed throughout the entire compound, calling the super hero team to order.

From where they were having fun dancing to the music from Mira's phone, Hunter and his guest stopped their frivolity. Mira went over and turned her phone off, her glee suddenly fading from her face.

"I guess you have to go, huh?" she said with a half smile. "Big important meeting for super heroes."

"You can come if you'd like," Hunter told her nonchalantly.

"But it's an emergency me. . ."

"No biggie," Hunter shrugged. "We have them all the time."

"Oh, we'll I guess it's alright."

"Great, c'mon." Hunter grabbed Mira, leaving her bag on the floor as he pulled her out into the hallway. No sooner did they exit the room than they almost ran into Exile. "Wow, good timing, buddy. It's almost as if you were waiting outside the room."

"I. . .uh. . .that would be wrongsky," Exile said flustered.

"Of, course. Now come on," Hunter said, grabbing the husky's hand and pulling both his friends down the hall.

When they arrived to the big war room, Colleen was already waiting for them.

"Hallow, chaps. Where's Shag and Wot's-his-name?" Colleen greeted.

"Shag had to go after breakfast, and we just saw Blitz off," Hunter answered. "And that reminds me, aren't you scheduled for some off time as well?"

"Oh, you know how the Queen is. She get's so busy that sometimes she hardly has time to tell someone to feed me and throw a ball," Colleen told them with a wave of her hand, not noticing that Hunter and Exile were gesturing to be quite. "What? Oh, right. The secret identity thing. Right."

Mira had a look of contemplation, and then brightened up. "Do you mean that you belong to Queen. The band. 'Cause I totally love their music. Oldies rock."

Colleen's looked away. "Uh, that's right, luv."

"Sweet."

"Anyway," Colleen continued on. "The inventors on a different Rover's team are working on an automaton to take our place during emergencies. I sent that instead." She said the last bit with a big smile on her face.

"Really?" Hunter asked, his ears perked up. "That's so awesome. I want one."

Exile came into the conversation with a worried expression. "I thought automatons only in trial stage and not ready to put into action."

"Is that so. . ." Colleen mused.

* * *

Miles from where the group of Road Rover's sat, the Queen of England walked primly to the dog kennel to where her precious collie should be playing in the spacious yard. The dog handler followed behind her, taking note of everything she said she wanted Colleen to do. She stopped as she came to the grassy area.

"Good heavens, Colleen," the Queen said, hugging a hand to her bosom. "What is the matter with her?"

The Queen and the dog handler watched as the collie in the yard kept running in circles barking up at the sky. It kept doing that until it straightened out and ran into the nearest tree. The dog then fell to its side, still yapping at something that the humans couldn't see.

"I believe there is something outside of the estate that is making her nervous," the handler said quickly, using the first excuse he could think of.

"Hmmmm, we'll give her a few more extra treats, brush her down while listening to Mozart, and give her a quiet walk in the park," the Queen ordered, and walked away.

"Yes, your highness," the handler said, turning his back just as the dog produced a shower of sparks.

* * *

Colleen shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well."

The Road Rovers became silent enough that they could tell that Mira was singing to herself.

"Weeeeeeeeee are the chaaaaampions my frieeeeeends. And weeeeeeeee'll keep on fiiiiightiiiiing to the eeeeeeeeend."

"Sorry to call all of you on such short notice, but I've called this meeting for all Road Rover all over the world," Shepherd started talking quickly just as he entered the room. Everyone became silent to listen to him. "There will be many other teams listening in on the secret coded satellite. As you know, the Road Rover satellite is the only thing powerful enough to penetrate to the headquarter, which is the only thing that keeps us secure here. First off, does everyone. . ."

Just at that moment, a high noted version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy played, making all the transmutants perk their ears.

Mira picked up her phone. "Hello," she said cheerfully. Then her expression feel into surprised. "Oh yeah," she said, her voice quickly changing to a raspy one. "Sorry, I can't come in today. I've been awfully sick. I came down with something awful." With the phone still by her mouth, she let out a stream of coughs. "Sorry I didn't call in, I just crashed last night and haven't been conscious until now." She started coughing again, and then hacking in such a grotesque way that the Road Rovers leaned away. "I don't know when I'll be coming back. I might have to go to the doctor." Another attack of coughing and then some dry heaving. "Thanks. See ya later." Mira then closed her phone, and looked proud of herself.

Then she saw that everyone, including Shepherd, was staring at her. "What? I'm not going to work. Or tell them that I've been kidnapped by a raving lunatic because of my psychic dog-mind reading skills, changed into a fury and am now being kept against my will in a secure compound by dog-people with super powers. Or maybe I should. It's so crazy, they'd probably believe me."

Shepherd looked angry. "How did you get that phone call? This is a high tech secured building. No signals should be able to come in."

Mira pointed to her phone. "Verizon?"

"Whoa, I have got to get me one of those," Hunter said with a big smile.

Shepherd sighed, and rubbed his head. "Please, turn off your phone and give it to Exile. We can't be having unsecured lines coming in and out. It's for everyone's protection.

Mira frowned, but reluctantly handed over her phone. She had over 1,000 songs on there. Awwww.

The Master cleared his throat before continuing on. "As I was saying, first off does everyone have the briefing that I gave them earlier."

Before any of the present Road Rovers could reply, a voice over the intercom speakers spoke. "This is is Persia, the commander of the Space Rover. My crew have be briefed about the situation."

"This is Snowy, the captain of the USS Sub Rover. So have my crew."

More voices chimed in to say the same.

"Jeez, how many of there are you?" Mira whispered to Exile.

"Many. We have dogs from every country, keeping the peace," Exile explained proudly.

"No, kidding,"

Mira tried to keep quiet during the meeting and pay attention, but things didn't make sense. She couldn't figure out why such a huge organization like that Road Rover was holding an emergency meeting on how to stop a disease that only kills puppies. And then things clicked.

"That ugly dude's name is Parvo?" Mira said out loud.

Everyone stopped the discussion.

"Honey, we're already in the fifth chapter of the story. Try to keep up," Colleen told her heartlessly.

"But really, that's his name? Was Dog-Hater or Puppy-Killer not subtle enough for his parents?"

Shepherd raised an eyebrow at her. "We believe that it's a pseudonym. Now if we could continue?"

"Wait a minute, Master," a deep voice from the intercom interrupted. "Is that the subject from the file?"

"She is."

"No offense to your skills, but I have a few scientists that would like to take a look at her DNA. They are very much interested if you could send us samples."

"I think that could be arranged."

"Don't act like I don't know what that means," Mira shouted at Shepherd and the disembodied voice. "If you think that I'm going to sit around and let you stick me with a lot of needles, pull off all my hair and skin and pour chemicals into my veins, you've got another thing coming."

"Sounds like a spunky one," the voice whispered.

Shepherd frowned even more at the young mutated girl. "I'm afraid that if you want to change back, you don't have much of a choice than to be experimented on."

"Don't give me that crap. You have computers and junk. Run simulations and that kind of junk," Mira ordered.

Another voice on the speakers broke in. It sounded as if it wasn't close to the microphone. "Commander, tell the girl that it isn't possible to run simulations on an unknown variable that we cannot predict. Thus the need for multiple tests. We'll need to take blood samples, hair and skin samples, urine samples, bone marrow samples, and maybe organ samples; and also run many diagnostic tests, a cat scan, MRI, not to mention if she had ESP before changing, there are many psychic tests to see if that is involved in the equation. Not to mention testing on the type of waves she might have been. . ."

Mira's face continued to reflect a look that was haggard, loathing and dilapidated, and grew worse and worse after each word.

"Rabbit, I told you that you'd have to keep your mouth shut until I told you that you could speak," the first voice barked, a growl in his tone.

"But they have to realize the scientific precision and value that my skills will provide them. No offense to the Master, but I think that I can add new insight to the theory of how she was turned into a cano-mutant. . .er person thing. If only I can get my hands on some samples, I know I can find a way to turn her back if only you let me experiment just a little."

There was a crash on the intercom.

"Please forgive our new intern. He's full of youthful vigor, and loves what he does, but sometimes he can be over-bearing in his fervor."

The Master smiled. This new intern sounded very interesting. "It's alright, Admiral Rocky. I know what it's like to be young and full of new ideas, bursting with creative, scientific energy." The Master rubbed his chin and smiled. "In fact, I could use some of that youth. I think maybe a transfer is in order."

Mira felt the hair on her hackles raise, a new sensation that disturbed her almost as much as the intern's talk of experiments on her. She looked to the Road Rovers for help.

"Isn't that great? You're going to get changed back soon, Mira," Hunter said happily, and patted her head.

Mira slumped back into her chair, quiet for the rest of the meeting as everyone discussed her and what they were going to do to her.

* * *

Heph had set up an office in the General's base. It wasn't very fancy, but neither was Parvo's base. He had very little to work with, the General wasn't very organized and everything was covered in dog hair. Not to mention there was an astounding lack of office supplies available. It's like the General never wrote anything down or kept his plans on file. In fact, it was like he just created things from memory. A great skill, but not very practical in the long run.

Perhaps it had something to do with him going through time, or being transmutated by a two different transmutation machines. Shepherd's and Parvo's technology might not mix well. Or maybe it could just be because he used to be a cat and is still learning how to read and write. Whatever the cause, if Heph was going to monitor this project, things would have to change. Maybe Agent 349 had made records and lists of the base's technology and supplies.

Just as he was spraying some more Febreeze around to get rid of the doggy smell, Heph heard a knock on his door.

"Enter," his deep voice resonated.

A slim figure quickly slipped in and shut the door.

"Yes? What is it Agent 349?"

"I was wondering Commander Heph what it is you wish me to do?" Groomer asked, with a bowed head.

"I want you to continue doing what you've always been doing, Agent 349. Help General Parvo rid us of the Road Rovers," Heph said, organizing a few papers on his desk.

"There is a problem with the General," Groomer said uneasily. "He's not doing anything, and he refuses to let me near him. I've betrayed him Commander, so he doesn't trust me anymore."

"Trust is unnecessary," Heph said in his emotionless voice, his African accent making him sound even more cold. "The General is just having a fit because he's not the biggest dog on the block anymore. He'll get over it. In the meantime, the project must continue."

"But no matter what I do, the General. . ."

"Do you know what your problem is, Agent 349?" Heph said, his voice becoming more harsh. "Ever since you joined the Eris Project, you've been given chance after chance to progress, but you've continued to disappoint us. You've only made it this far because of your knowledge of technology and animals, even how unimpressive it is. It just so happened that you were perfect for this assignment and we needed you. However, it would be easy to outsource you and the General if the two of prove to be more trouble than you're worth. You might want to remind the General of that."

Heph continued to stare down Groomer until she said, "Yes, Commander."

"Very good. I also have a few questions for you if you don't have anything more to report," Heph said, a warning in his voice that she better not report something like before.

"Yes, I do. The professor has made a dozen more of the de-transmutators. We're already shipping them to men in the field," Groomer said with more confidence. "Right now he's resting. However, there's no sign of the Road Rovers, so we're not sure if they'll work on Shepherd's pets."

"Unfortunate. But it's a big world. However, I'd like to try staking out a certain area, if it isn't too late," Heph said, straightening himself.

"Which area?"

"That's where I hope you could help me," Heph said, a smile forming on his large lips making him look almost friendly.

"How?"

Heph brought something up on his computer an then turned the screen to Groomer. On the moniter was a picture of a dark skinned, dark haired young woman, dirty, bloody and running away from something.

"I need all your information you have on her."

* * *

Mira peered down the corner of the hallway, seeing that it was empty. It had been a day since the meeting with all the Road Rovers, and in the past twenty-four hours, she knew what it was like to be in a house of nuts. And there was a couple of particularly crazy nuts that she wanted to hide from while she ran to the kitchen to get lunch. It was a mad dash, but she was quick on her feet. Sprinting, she was going to make sure nobody was going to intercept her on her way to food. She slowed when she reached the kitchen with a sigh of relief.

"Fancy meeting you here, ducky. What a surprise," a light voice called out.

Mira felt her muscles tense and her sigh turn into a grumble. Just one of the rocks she didn't want to run into.

"Yeah, a surprise," Mira said with a forced smile. "How are you doing Colleen?" she asked, and inched her way to the kitchen door.

"I'm feeling a little down, to tell the truth," Colleen said, her ears flopping.

"Well, then you should go back to bed and rest for a while," Mira said, moving further away.

"No, no, that'll not work. You know what I need?"

Mira groaned inwardly.

"Girl time!" Colleen exclaimed, and pulled Mira away from the kitchen. "Let's give each other make overs."

Mira allowed herself to be dragged back to Colleen's room where she suffered through Colleen brushing every inch of her that wasn't covered in clothing, and put her hair into different styles using all sorts of sprays and gels to make her hair do things that God never intended hair to do, all the way prattling away about things that Mira ignored. Mira wouldn't have minded this very much since she's had plenty of family and friends that would play with her hair, but Colleen was quite forceful in her pulling snarls out of Mira's fur and hair.

This wasn't the first time Colleen accosted her into doing something. Late last night she demanded that they have a sleep over where they painted each others nails and Colleen, in warrior fashion, had a pillow fight with her nearly giving Mira a black eye and a concussion.

Mira had a hard time understanding Colleen. It was like the collie wanted to act like a teenage girl and do all those silly things Mira had done with her friends back in high school. Except with all the tenderness of a sumo wrestler. Mira wasn't sure if she was sincerely being friendly, or if Colleen was like those preppy girls that are only nice to you to be mean later on.

No, Colleen was sincere. Mira could sense that just as she was able to sense how regular dogs feel. But she wasn't able to figure out Colleen's motive. The collie never asked about Mira, never wanted Mira to do anything for her, she just wanted to do things to Mira. It was like Colleen was going to kill her with kindness.

_This'll show him._

Mira perked her ears up, even though she didn't hear the words. But she recognized the feeling. She's just received a simple thought telepathically. Mira mainly receives feelings and images, rarely do dogs actually think in words, and only those they've heard many times from their masters. But Colleen's thoughts were clearer and more forceful than anything else Mira had received.

It worried her. Dogs were one thing, but a sentient being's thoughts were another.

"I. . .uh. . .I gotta go," Mira stuttered, feeling awkward after hearing Colleen's personal thoughts. But not only that, but she now had something else to worry about. _This'll show him._ What was that suppose to mean? Who's him? And what does Colleen have to prove?

Mira quickly rushed to kitchen. All she wanted to do was grab some food, and run back to her room to eat in peace and quiet, and think about what she learned from Colleen.

She had her hand on the door when some pressure was put on her shoulder. Mira had a bad feeling about it.

"Oh, good. Perfect timing. I wanted to take a blood sample to test your blood sugar level and it's better to do it before you eat. Come this way."

Mira turned around to see Shepherd's shadowy form beckoning her toward his lab. Could this day turn out any worse? Shepherd had already bombarded her with a few tests, and usually when he turned around to make notes or type on his computer, Mira would escape from his lab until he could hunt her down again. This was the third test she had to go through today, not to mention the four from yesterday. After this, she was determined to be done for a while. She wasn't a rat, she was a dog. . . a human.

Mira shook her head. All this weirdness was making her feel crazy. She really did want to find a way to change back, but she really disliked being a test subject.

"Alright, let's get this over with," she muttered, and followed Shepherd like a hangman to his noose.

Shepherd, once in his lab, was like a child with a shiny new puzzle that needed to be put together quickly. He checked her vitals, like he always did, before tying off her arm in preparation to draw blood.

Mira gritted her teeth as Shepherd pulled out a sterilized needle and empty syringe to draw the blood out. It surprised her when Shepherd took out an electric shaver. But then she remembered that most of the time, vets shaved off a patch of fur to draw blood from animals. It felt strange having the inside of her elbow shaved. Another sensation she didn't like.

Soon, she walked out of the lab once Shepherd had taken what he needed and turned his back long enough to sneak away. She felt woozy, and slowly made her way to the kitchen. She was opening the door when she heard, "Hi, Mira."

She growled, low and deep, like an angry dog. She could feel something rumbling in her throat that usually isn't there.

"Whoa, I is not threat," the transmutated husky said, raising his hands in defense and lowering his ears.

Mira's hand went to her forehead as she realized that she had showed her anger toward someone who didn't deserve it. "Oh, I'm sorry Exile. I didn't mean. . ." She couldn't continue on. The last couple of days had been a whirl of so many things that she hardly had time to let her emotions catch up to her. But now she couldn't keep anything in. She swallowed, hoping to stop anything from coming out until she could go off by herself.

"Hey, anything wrong?" Exile asked, looking concerned.

Mira forced herself to be calm and smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need something to eat. I'll be alright." Her head was spinning, and her eyes started seeing white lights in front of them. "The mad doctor just took some of my blood, and I'm not feeling well."

Exile seemed to panic, and started fussing over Mira. "You need food. Let me get you some." He ran into the kitchen, nearly hitting Mira with the door, and then coming back out again to take her by the shoulders and led her in. "What would you like? I am sorry to talk that I'm not good cook."

"I'll eat anything right now. I mean, anything a human would eat," Mira said, adding the last part quickly.

"Human food, coming up," Exile said with a smile, and put some water on to boil. "I may have head on crooked, but just now you looked a little down. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Mira lied, and looked away.

"No, you're not fine," Exile said, almost with authority. "With all that's happened to you, and still happening to you, you're not fine. Am I right?"

Mira could feel her emotions welling up inside of her, and tears came to her eyes. "Of course I'm not fine. My life has been turned completely around. I can't go home. I can't go see my friends or my family. I'm probably going to loose my job. There's food in my refrigerator that's going to spoil. I can't take a shower without smelling bad. I can't smell anything without smelling a mess of other things that I don't want to smell. And to top it off, I can't fit into my ballet slippers." Mira thunked her head down on the counter, and hid her tears in her furry arms.

Exile, even more embarrassed than Mira since he had no idea what to do, remained in silence as the girl wept. He continued to cook without saying anything, letting Mira stay in her own thoughts. Partially, he felt responsible since he only wanted her to open up a bit and relieve some of the pressure, but Mira burst open far more than he was able to comfort.

After a while, Mira reached for a paper towel to wipe her nose and eyes with, her crying seeming to lessen a bit.

Exile decided to take a chance and try again. "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Do you have a restart button?" Mira asked with little humor, snuffling noisily.

Exile chuckled a little. "How about some cookies?" he said with a smile.

"*Sniff* What kind?"

"Vanilla Waffers."

"Hand them over," Mira relented, and took the package of cookies and started eating them as Exile poured her a glass of milk. "I'm not saying that living with you guys isn't too bad, well, except that Shepherd guy always experimenting on me, and Colleen stalking me, and Blitz hitting on me. But other than that, it's not too bad."

Exile opened his mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what.

"I just wish I had something of my own. I have nothing. You took my phone which had all my music on it. Not even my own room or clothes," Mira said in a depressed voice, looking down at her borrowed clothing. "By the way, thanks for letting me stay in your room. I feel really bad about that."

"It's okay. Couch is fine for sleeping on," Exile said with a big grin.

The two continued to talk as Exile cooked. While Mira ate, the husky started to come up with an idea that would help Mira feel better. He said good-bye to her, and left to go talk to Hunter.

* * *

Hunter and Exile were seen talking together in whispered tones, keeping whatever they were planning to themselves. The other Road Rovers were curious about this strange behavior, especially Colleen, who wondered if this had something to do with Hunter putting Exile in charge for a while. However, the two didn't want to say anything to the others until they had The Master's approval. They didn't want to get the compound excited for nothing.

Once they had talked to their human creator, they quickly gathered the rest of the team, plus Mira, into the lounging area.

"Okay, Rovers. As good citizens of the super-hero community, it's our duty to come to the rescue of anyone who is in need of us," Hunter began. "And we have someone in our company that is in need of our help. Mira isn't in any trouble, but we do need to make her feel comfortable until she is able to return home. For a while, this is Mira's home too, so we need to do what we can to make it feel like home."

Mira felt embarrassed at all this attention, connecting her talk with Exile with this talk. She didn't mean to be a bother, she just wanted things to go back to the way they were before things went crazy.

"The Master is setting up one of the extra rooms for Mira for her own space, and getting the furniture ready and inside. Shag, you stay here and help him get it ready. As for the rest of us, we're going to New Jersey."

Mira was glad that she was getting her own room, and no longer had to keep Exile's out of his, but Hunter's second news seemed more than she expected. "But, why?" Mira asked confused. They certainly weren't going to send her home in the condition she was in.

"Well, you're going to need something to decorate that room. The four of us will fly you out there and help you pack a few bags of your stuff," Hunter said, smiling down at her. " We're hoping that you won't be staying here for long, but it still might be at least a few more days."

Mira looked very happy about this. Perhaps while she was there, she could make a few calls to relatives and friends with an excuse over her absence, and leave a few instructions to take care of some loose ends.

"This is great. When do we leave?"

"Now."

In only a few minutes, they had her strapped into the Sky Rover, Colleen and Hunter in the pilot and co-pilot seats, and Exile navigating. Which left Mira in the middle seat along side of Blitz.

"Don't you worry, pretty girl. I'm going carry all of your stuff on board with my big strong muscles. I don't even know why everyone else is coming," Blitz said with his nose in the air, and smiling a gleaming smile. "I could have flown the Sky Rover all by myself, and taken you anywhere you'd want to go."

Everyone rolled their eyes except Mira. She was thinking about Blitz. She knew the type of dog he was. Easily excited and over-energetic, but never got enough attention along the road. He was confident in himself, and overly-friendly, but lacked the social skills that would help him interact with other canines. She's dealt with plenty of them, although they've all be smaller dogs. Doberman's, as long as they're well-trained, hardly have any issues besides aggression.

"I'm sure you could, Blitzy," Mira said in a kind tone, and patted Blitz on the head. "But everyone else wanted to come. I could show you all my apartment."

Blitz lapped up the attention. "Yeah, I guess so. But I'll do most of the carrying of the bags, okay?"

"Alright, Blitz. I'll make sure you get the heaviest bag, since you're so strong," Mira said, but not in a too flattering voice. Whenever she came upon a troublesome dog at work, she usually was able to sense what the dog needed and what was good for him. For Blitz, she was sure he needed more positive attention. And she hoped that if she continued to treat him like a dog, he'd stop flirting with her.

Exile gave the two a weird look. They were acting very chummy. He tried not to watch Mira, but every time he heard her talk he would glance over to her to see her conversing with Blitz. It was strange to see Blitz actually talking to someone, but when he saw Mira smiling and laughing with the doberman, he had the urge to jump in. But that would be rude, and he had a job he needed to do.

Besides Blitz and Mira, the airplane flew in silence over the Atlantic Ocean toward New Jersey. Exile was able to direct Hunter to Mira's apartment complex. Hunter then landed the vehicle in a park nearby with plenty of trees. It was in the middle of the day on a week day, so there was hardly anyone around.

Mira was in a way more upbeat mood then she's been for a while. The scenery was familiar. The air was fresh, there were birds singing, and not a person in sight to see her in her changed state.

Then the Road Rovers opened up the door and started trooping out.

"So this is what Jersey's like. Peachy."

"Oooooh, a park. Did anyone bring a frisbee to throw me."

"I smell other dogs. Sniff sniff."

"Fire hydrant!"

Mira panicked. All four of them started off in four different directions. Not knowing which one she should grab first, she ran around in circles with a scared look on her face. "Wait. Don't go there. Blitz, don't chew on that. No, someone might see you."

Then Mira forgot that she was a dog trainer. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before she put her fingers in her mouth and blew a high shrill whistle.

Immediately, all four Road Rovers' ears perked up, and they stop where they were.

"Come here," Mira ordered, slapping her leg.

The Rovers complied quickly with eager faces.

"Now sit," Mira ordered again, pointing down.

All sat down, looking up at her.

"I know all of you are very excited about coming to a new place and everything, but I can't let you go running around by yourselves. People aren't used to seeing dog-people. We have to keep a low profile until we get to my apartment. Understand?" she asked in a strict tone. "And if you're all good, I'll give you a treat."

"Oh boy."

"A treat!"

"I'll be the best doggy in the world. I won't bite anyone."

"Alright. Let's go. Heel!"

Mira trotted along the street quickly, avoiding people whenever she could. And when she couldn't, she just smiled and waved. She couldn't change her or the Rover's appearance, so she just acted naturally. But some of the her neighbors had some of the most precious looks. She laugh later, but she was only relieved that nobody could recognize her.

It was luck in her favor that there was nobody near her apartment complex, so nobody saw five dog-people going in, and she was so thankful that she didn't have a roommate. That would have been a scene.

"Wow, so this is where you live."

"Awesome digs."

"Coo."

And just like before, all four Rovers headed off to sniff into different corners. But she didn't care. She's dog-sat so many dogs, she was used to having her stuff sniffed at. It'll give her some quiet time to pack a few bags by herself. And to make sure she'd have enough time. . .

"Hey guys, could you clean out my fridge. I don't want anything to go bad while I'm gone, so just eat or throw away everything in there, okay?"

She smiled slyly as she heard the four Rover race to the small kitchen, excited voices echoing from there.

"Is that three day old Chinese? I call that."

"I'll drink the last of the milk."

"But it's expired."

"Yum, chewy."

"Hand over the sandwich meat. I'm making myself a hero."

Now that her guests were occupied, she sneaked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She sighed deeply, releasing all her stress as she soaked up the familiar environment. She collapsed on her bed, hugging her pillow out of nostalgia, breathing in the familiar scents. And with her new nose, everything came at her ten times better than before. It was nearly too much for her and before she started to cry, Mira went to work. She pulled out a duffel bag, and started shoving clothes into it, making sure she had enough of everything. When that was full, she took out a small suitcase. In this, she started putting items from her room. She put in a small CD player, and large CD case. She took some books from her shelf, a few of her favorite titles and some she had been meaning to read. Then she grabbed pictures of family and friends, as well as a few keepsakes and things of sentimental value that would prevent her from getting too homesick. Finally she threw in her pillow, and few more books. Who knew how long she'd been gone, so might as well fill the thing up.

She stripped her bed of the blankets, pillows and sheets, folding them up in a neat pile. She filled up all of her bags, and when those were full, she started filling up boxes.

After packing up everything she wasn't willing to leave behind, she put them all by the door. She then turned around to look at her room, and the pile of boxes and bags. She cringed as she realized how much she packed. Perhaps she went a little overboard. But part of her couldn't bare to leave anything behind. After shrugging to herself, she looked over the room one last time. It was very bare now. But then something caught her eye.

It was a picture frame on her night stand. Mira went over to it, and picked it up. Mira starred for a minute at the picture, her hand unconsciously moving to the necklace she never took off. Her fingers rubbed against the pink heart, feeling the letters of "Shadow" engraved in the metal. She was so deep in thought that she jumped when her door creaked from being slowly opened.

Standing just outside with the door only opened a crack was Exile.

"Yes?" Mira said with more irritation in her voice than she'd like.

"Uh, do you need any help?" Exile asked, lowering his head. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"No, no I don't. Thanks," Mira quickly said, and put the picture face down on the night stand. "I'm all done." She went over to pick up her bags.

Exile looked at Mira's face, and saw tears in her green eyes. "Are you okay?" He went further into her room.

"I'm fine," she muttered with her head down. "I just have a few things I need to take care of, and then I'll be ready." She quickly left the bedroom.

Exile could hear her move down the hall, and lock herself in the bathroom. When she did, Exile moved to the nightstand. He picked up the picture, looking at it carefully. The frame looked like it was made by a child, blue painted plywood with seashells glued on it. The picture inside it was a dark-brown skinned girl about eleven or twelve years old. She wore a school uniform that was a white button up shirt and a plaid skirt. She had her arms around the neck of a full-grown German Shepherd, who was nuzzling her neck with her nose, causing the girl to laugh.

Exile studied the picture, remembering that Mira was wearing the tag with the name "Shadow" on her necklace. This must be the dog she said so little about. She said that the dog was gone, but hardly anything more.

Exile could tell that Mira loved the dog very much. But why was the picture still in her bedroom? Why had she not packed it? And what happened to the dog? She looked at the picture with such sadness. She was crying too.

Exile then turned to the girl in the picture. It was her green eyes that he saw the resemblance to Mira. And the more he looked at the young girl, the more he saw the likeness. Even with Mira's changes into the canomutant, he could see the resemblance.

Exile thought about how old Mira was back in the picture, and how old she is now and thought that if the dog hadn't died of old age by now, then she'd be very old. But Exile had a feeling that this wasn't the case. There is a story behind this picture.

Exile also wondered why Mira didn't pack this photo up since it obviously was valuable to her. He perked up his ears, and heard Mira was still in the bathroom and the other Rovers hadn't left the kitchen. Knowing this, he slipped the picture into the pocket of the nearest bag, then picked it up. Hefting a few other bags, he went into the hall.

"Mira, I'm going to take a load to the plane now, and I'll be back," Exile called out.

Mira opened the door, and stepped out, a small bag in hand. "Oh, you don't have to. I'm almost done."

"It's alright. We came here to help, so that's what I'm going to do," Exile told her, hefting a box on his shoulders.

"Okay," Mira said, looking at the large load he was holding. "We'll try to meet you out there."

* * *

The man known as Jim Flannigan stepped out of apartment number C4 after fixing a leaky faucet. He made sure he had all his tools before closing the door and locking up afterward. Whistling a tune, he started back to the leasing office to pick up more assignments. As he was leaving, he noticed someone coming out of an apartment a few rooms down. He stopped and starred.

The man (at least Jim was able to determine the humanoid was male) was carrying a couple of bags and a box on his shoulder. He was barely able to close the door after him.

Jim didn't move.

The man turned around and saw Jim watching him. He smiled slightly and gave a wave. Before Jim could react, he walked swiftly away, tail swishing as he moved.

For a moment, Jim's brain couldn't compute what just happened, but then he shook his head. Then he reached down into his pocket, and pulled out a cell-phone that he kept with him for one purpose. He pushed the number one for the only number on speed dial, and waited. After only one ring it picked up.

"Yes."

"This is Agent 104. We have activity."

"How many?"

"I've only seen one. The husky. He's heading for the park."

"What about the target?"

"Not in sight."

"Agents are standing by. Good work Agent 104."

Jim shut the cell-phone and walked away like nothing happened.

* * *

"Hey guys, I have what I needed. Is the frige empty?" Mira asked, stepping into the kitchen. She smiled as she saw Hunter, Colleen and Blitz sitting back on her chairs with big grins on their faces and hands on overstretched bellies. Hunter and Colleen's tails slowly wagged to Mira's question.

"Now who's helping me carry all my stuff," Mira said, and clapped her hands once.

All three Rovers moaned, but complied slowly.

"Don't worry, everyone. I'm going to carry the heaviest bags with my big strong muscles," Blitz said as he hefted to his feet faster than the others. "I'm not such a wimpy dog."

"Good, because I have a lot of stuff. Exile already took some to the plane, so we should try to meet him there," Mira told them, and led them to her bags and boxes.

* * *

"Agent 56 to Agent 95. I have visual of four other canomutants."

"Any sign of the target."

"Negative. They're exiting the apartment, but no humans."

Suddenly a third voice came onto the line.

"What breed are they, Agent 56."

"Golden Retriever, Collie, Doberman, and some kind of mutt."

"A mutt. Is he white and shaggy? A big one."

"No, this one's a female. Dark gray and light gray."

There was a pause.

"That's the target. Take them."

"But, sir. The target is human."

"An assumption that we have mistaken. Shoot the others, but do not hit the target. You're main priority is to capture her without harming her."

"Affirmative."

* * *

Blitz led the way with his arms full of boxes, calling to the others to observe his bulging muscles. Mira came next, looking around to make sure nobody watched them leave her apartment. Hunter came next, but zipped ahead to put his load in the plane before going back for the last of it and locking the apartment. He then followed after Colleen at the rear.

"I bet I could carry twice this much," Blitz bragged as he strutted.

"Can we go faster? It's almost time for people to be coming home," Mira pushed.

"Relax, it's okay. It doesn't matter if we're seen," Hunter told her as he shifted his load.

Mira wasn't convinced. She had been excited about getting her stuff, but once they left the apartment she felt nervous.

"Guys, I really think we should hurry. Something doesn't feel right," Mira said softly.

All at once, the three Rovers' ears perked up at attention, and their insticts told them the same. Something was wrong.

And then a beam of light suffused Blitz, Colleen and Hunter, and they all shut their eyes.

When Mira opened hers again, she looked around. Immediately she saw men in black armor and helmets running toward her with some sort of weapon in their hands. She took a step back. "Guys, look over there," she cried out pointing. She hoped that the Rovers with their super powers were able to stop the men.

Something pulled at Mira's pant leg. She looked down into the face of a Golden Retriever. Nearby was a Collie and a Doberman, empty Road Rover suits and her things strewn over the sidewalk.

Her eyes widened. And in her mind she could hear, _I could not have predicted this._


	6. Chapter 6

ALL HALF BREED FANS, PLEASE READ THIS!

All of you have been very good to me and I love reading your comments, but I have some good and bad news. The bad news is I am discontinuing this story. I haven't been on the ball with it, and it isn't up to the grade I was hoping. I had a lot of plans for it, but I cannot continue the story as it is.

The good news is that I am rewriting it. I am not satisfied with how the story is going and I've changed how I want it to go. With luck, I'll be able to rewrite it better than before. I have a few things going on in my life right now that hinders me from writing it immediately. I want to have the whole plot planned out instead of heading into it willy nilly. This will take some time. I am also in the middle of a very big project that will take me until the end of June if not further. Also, my husband and I are planning on moving to a different state. This will take up a lot of my geek time.

I calculate that I won't be able to post the first chapter of the reformatted "Half Breed" until Sept 1st, which is my goal in the future. So please keep an eye out in the fall for that. In the meantime, please visit my deviantart account that has much Road Rovers goodness on there, and maybe some posted every now and then. My deviantart account is .com.

I'm very sorry about this, but I've been having bad feelings about the story for a while, and I want to give it a better boost and work more on getting the plot through. I also added a few characters that I'm not happy with and going to chuck them out of the equation. In the meantime, I started working on chapter 6, and decided to post what I had finished up here. Be warned, it is not edited. I don't have the time to do it, so please no comments on spelling and grammar errors.

Thank you guys, and I'll see you in the fall.

-Emilou

Half Breed

Chapter 6: Defend

By Emilou AKA Hatashi Kitty

Exile placed Mira's boxes and bags into the Road Rover's plane's storage bin carefully. He placed everything in a way to make sure there is more space for the rest of her things. But before he closed the hatch, he pulled out the picture he smuggled in one of Mira's bags. He felt slightly guilty for taking the picture, but he did it without thinking and was curious why she didn't take the picture with her. More than ever was the young woman a mystery to him. What had happened to her German Shepherd that made her want to wear the dog's tag? Did it have anything to do with her being able to hear dog's thoughts? And did her psychic powers have something to do with her being turned into a dog?

There were just so many questions that Exile wanted to ask Mira, but he didn't want to impose himself on the girl. Besides, it wasn't his place to find out about her. He wasn't the leader or a scientist; they're the ones that need to know about her so they can answer those questions. They're the ones that can help her.

He was about to put the picture away and go help with the rest of Mira's luggage, but he sat down and studied the picture some more.

"So, Mira, what are things you like to do? Do you like reading?" Exile asked the picture. "Oh really? I love reading. But English is hard for me. I am trying much to learn. Perhaps we could read together sometime?" Exile rubbed the back of his neck and laughed at himself. Mira wasn't even there, and he was getting nervous just talking to her picture. Why couldn't he just talk to her? Why did he want to talk to her so much?

Why did he want her to talk to him?

He thought back through the past few days. Out of all the Road Rovers, he had the least amount of contact with her as the others. She seemed to take Blitz's weird-boy personality in stride, she talked easily with Hunter about music, she simply adored Shag, and Colleen always was doing girl stuff with her. Why couldn't he just talk to her?

And then he heard Mira scream.

Before he could think, he was already out the plane, running as fast as he could. His heart pounded in his ears, making it hard to hear the next scream. He headed back for the apartment, hoping that's where they would be. Then he spotted her.

Mira was sprinting through the park with a look of terror. Close behind her were men dressed in black with high-tech gun-like machines in their hands. They were aiming them at her, but nobody was shooting at her. And the other Rovers weren't in sight. What had happened to them?

He decided to take action. Staring with deep concentration at the ground where the guys in black were running, he used his ice vision to freeze the ground.

The men with guns stepped on the ice, and started falling and reeling their arms as they were unprepared for the slippery landscape. Those that didn't fall were soon pushed to the ground by Exile's strong arms.

The husky stood steadily on the ice, looking down at the men, growling. Then he looked around, trying to see where Mira was, but the human turned dog as gone. Perhaps she went into hiding. But before he could go looking for her, he should tie up those who were chasing her first.

As Exile turned around, the muzzle of a gun pushed up into his throat.

A man dressed in black clothing and a helmet sneered at Exile. "Where's the girl?"

Men were chasing her. Strange men. They wanted her. They weren't good men. Their cold feelings of wanting to catch her, to take her away, filled her with dread and fear. She was so determined to get away, she didn't realize she could read their feelings. It wasn't important.

What was important that men were chasing her, men that wanted to do harm to her. Harm like the man that chased her as a child. And that's what she felt like now. A little child, running away from danger.

_Shadow! _Mira cried in her mind. _Shadow! Shadow! Where is my Shadow? Where is my guardian Shadow?_

Mira's mind was in such panic that she ran blindly through the park. She nearly screamed when something grabbed her sleeve and yanked her down into some bushes. Immediately she kicked and waved her arms around as she fell, fighting off whatever had pushed her. But then a warm, wet tongue licked her face. As if it were an instinct, she wrapped her arms around the furry body of the dog next to her.

_It'll be alright. Don't worry. We'll protect you_, a familiar voice entered her mind to say.

_I'll protect you more. I have big, strong teeth that will bite the tooshies of those men if they come after you_, a bold voice growled in her mind.

Mira buried her face into Hunter's golden fur, trying to stop her racing heart, her trembling body and her fear-driven mind. She felt Blitz as he crawled into her lap, and laid over her legs as if he thought he was a lap dog; but his bulky weight was calming to her. This was familiar to her, having dog bodies all around her.

_Ah, don't you three make just the cutest picture,_ a female voice cut in. _Now I wish I brought the camera._

_ Well, that is one of my super powers. I'm also super cute,_ Hunter said, and panted happily.

Colleen wagged her tail, glad to have made a quip with Hunter like always. But she also said it to stop herself from feeling awkward. When the boys started comforting Mira, she felt conflicted in her feelings. A part of her wanted to join in, to help calm down Mira; but another part wasn't sure how. This just wasn't her thing. She wasn't the cozy, gushy-type of dog that snuggles with people. She used to be a street dog, raised to take care of herself and avoid people. Now she was the Queen's dog, a proper lady that would pet her and occasionally throw a toy, but never snuggle.

What was Colleen supposed to do in this occasion? Was it proper to lick Mira? For how long? Only her face, or was she suppose to lick a hand too? Colleen was unsure.

_I'll keep a look-out for those creeps,_ she told Hunter, taking her away from the uncomfortable situation.

_Good idea. Bark if you see anything. And keep an eye out for Exile._

"Exile. . ." Mira murmured as thoughts of the transdogified husky came to mind. "He doesn't know about the guys in black. We need to go tell him."

_Blitz, can you track down Exile?_ Hunter asked. He felt a little relieved that Mira sounded a little less hysterical.

_Oh ja, I can do that. I'm a great tracker. I can sniff anything down._

_ Great, go get him and tell him what's going on. Then bring him here. He's our last hope._

Blitz carefully removed himself from Mira's leg, then loped off.

_Don't worry, Mira. We'll keep you safe. It's our job to protect you._

"What about my Shadow?" Mira asked, her eyes looking a bit glazed.

_Shadow? _Hunter asked tilting his head. _Your shadow is right behind you._

Mira looked, but her dog wasn't there. "She's not there. We have to go find my guardian Shadow." Her voice was almost hysterical.

Hunter was confused. He whined, and nuzzled Mira. _Don't worry. We'll find Shadow. Don't worry._

At that Mira calmed down, and started petting Hunter in a machine-like way.

"Where is the girl?"

Acting dumb, Exile just started to pant and bark.

The man in black sneered. "Nice try, but we already know that you can talk. Now where is the girl?"

"You smarter than look," Exile said, smiling at him. "Do not know where girl is. If you looking for date, try online service."

"What are you? A comedian?"

"You not laughing, so no."

The man's face turned angry. "That's enough with the jokes. You have three seconds to tell me where the girl is, or I shoot. One. . . .two. . . .thr. . . .OW!"

The man dropped his weapon and jumped back, screaming in pain.

Exile was surprised until he saw a black and tan form hanging onto the backside of the man. He smiled as he saw Blitz growl and bite harder. "You may be Weird Boy, Blitz, but you good Road Rover," Exile said, and then punched the man.

When the man slid to the ground, Exile retrieved his weapon.

"Where is Mira?" Exile asked.

"Woof!" Blitz barked.

"Where?" Exile asked since the answer wasn't very clear. It wasn't until then that he noticed that Blitz was in his dog form and he was barking. He started speaking rapidly in Russian before he went back to English. "Blitz, you are changed? How did it happen?"

Blitz barked some more, and then put his wet nose on the gun Exile was holding. Exile examined it with interested.

"This did it?" Exile exclaimed, holding the device away from him. "So, is not gun. Is un-doer of transdogifier." It had a shoulder harness, and he looped that around one arm and his head, letting the weapon hang off his back.

Blitz grabbed Exile's arm with his mouth gently, and started to drag him away.

"You show me to Mira? Okay, let's go," Exile said to him, following the pincher through the park.

Blitz padded quickly to the spot he had left the others, whining before he entered the bushes so that they know it was him. He crawled through the greenery, and came nose to nose to Colleen. His dog face broke into a huge smile, and he wagged his stubby tail.

Colleen turned away from him so casually, it was as if she didn't see him.

Hunter lifted his head as Blitz came into the clearing and shook his coat. When Exile came through, he wagged his tail.

_Mira, Exile is here. We need to go,_ he told her with his thoughts.

"Where is my Shadow?" Mira asked, still holding onto the golden retriever.

_We need to go. Get up, Mira_, Hunter told her, nuzzling her with his nose. He pushed her, trying to get her to move.

"No, I'm not going out there. He'll get me. I want Shadow," she cried out, her voice sounding hysterical. She pulled away from him.

"What happened? What's the matter with her?" Exile asked, concerned. He reached out to her, but she didn't react.

Hunter tilted his head at Exile, just as confused as. He made a few noises, and then went back to Mira's side.

"Shadow?" Exile repeated. "That's her dog."

The three dogs echoed noises of surprise. They could only watch as Exile moved over to where Mira was.

"Mira, I know where Shadow is. But you have to come with me," Exile told her gently, pulling her closer.

"But that man is out there. He's after me. Shadow told me so," Mira said in a shaky voice. "He wants to take me away. He wants to hurt me. Shadow knows what he wants. I have to stay away from him."

Exile wasn't sure if she was talking about the men in black, or if she was talking about something different. She seemed to be in a panic, and not exactly aware of what was going on.

"It's alright, Mira. I will protect you," he said in a soft whisper. "They'll not hurt you. I'll make sure of that."

It may have been his promise, or it could have been the growl in his voice which sounded like a guarding dog, but it worked. Mira unfolded herself from her fetal position. Exile helped her to her feet, but she didn't feel very steady. He wasn't sure if she could run, so he picked her up.

"Okay, let's go-sky," he said, his voice bold and commanding.

Hunter wagged his tail and barked happily. He always thought that Exile had some qualities in leadership. Only in times like these that they show up.

As if Colleen could understand what Hunter was thinking, she put her nose in the air and made her way through the bushes first. She quickly looked around, and saw that the coast was clear before barking softly.

Exile noisily pushed out of the bushes and ran toward the plane they flew in. He could still see the bodies of the men he knocked out. While that made him feel better, it wasn't a guarantee that they are safe. More of the black clad soldiers could be lurking about.

Blitz was the first to feel it. He felt dizzy and sick. He stopped running alongside Exile, stumbling a little. He moaned, feeling nauseous enough to feel his stomach lurch.

The others heard Blitz stop, and looked back with questioning looks.

"Come on, Weird-Boy. Get metal out," Exile told the pincher.

Then Mira started to moan, clutching at her stomach. "Ohhhhh, it hurts," she moaned, pushing herself out of Exile's arms. She knelt on the ground, looking like she was going to throw up.

Then Hunter and finally Colleen started moaning, which caused Mira to collapse onto the ground.

Exile wasn't sure what was going on, and was worried that there was a sickness going around that quickly affected transformed dogs. But he felt fine. And then he saw Blitz change. Paws turned into hands and fingers, and his body turned more human.

"That was not pleasant," Blitz groaned and then panted as if he had ran a marathon.

It wasn't long before Colleen and Hunter went back to their transdogified forms, looking completely exhausted, but no longer in pain.

And then Mira went silent.

Exile knelt by her side to check on her and found her completely saturated in sweat. As he touched her forehead, she opened her eyes slowly.

"Wha. . .what's going on?" she asked, her eyes looking very confused.

"I'd like to know as well," Exile told her. "But first, we get you to safe place."

Mira's eyes filled with tears. "I just want to go home," she sobbed, and turned her head away to hide her emotions. She said a few more things, and Exile thought he heard "Shadow" among them. As much as he'd like to take her home, it wasn't safe for her. Instead, he picked her up once again.

"We leave now," he told the others in a commanding tone.

There was hardly a word from any of them as they ignored whatever pain they were in as they stood up. They wanted out of there as well.

As they were running back to the Rover Plane, Hunter shouted a warning. "Get down!"

They all fell low to the ground just as a volley of fire from the strange weapons rained down on them. They huddled against a group of trees, just a few dozen meters away from their vehicle.

Then Hunter took control. "Exile, give Mira to Blitz. You and I will distract those men while Colleen and Blitz make it to the ship," he commanded. "When they're safe, Exile you're to leave them to me, and get to the ship yourself. Take off as soon as you can."  
"What about you?" Colleen asked, worry in her face. This wasn't a usual expression for her, which made it seem all the more serious.

"I'll be alright. I'll get into the ship if I can, but if not, I'll just run back. So don't worry about me," Hunter said, his voice a mixture of leadership and his laid-back nature.

Exile carefully handing the girl to the well-muscled pincher. He was reluctant to do so, but he was the only one other than Hunter who could give them cover.

Blitz still looked sickly, but perked up as he took Mira into his arms. "Gladly," Blitz said with a big grin. But, uncharacteristically, he became serious. "I'll make sure she's safe."

Exile felt surprise at Blitz's words, but didn't show it. This was a war zone. In the past, he remembered how it felt to fight the bad guys. It was so exhilarating it was almost fun. It didn't seem quite so serious when it was just his life and the other Rovers' lives on the line. They knew what they were doing. But Mira wasn't a Rover. She wasn't a super hero. She was a casualty he wasn't willing to take. The fact that Blitz understood that made him feel confident that the German Pincher would do as he promised.

The men in black were coming closer, their strange weapons in hand.

Exile aimed at the weapons with his heat ray to melt them, and used his frost stare to freeze the ground and the men's feet. Hunter worked with him, running from one man to the other to draw fire away from the others. When the men were distracted enough, Exile signaled the others to run for the ship.

Blitz and Colleen dashed away in no time, only having to dodge a few beams from the strange weapons. Blitz went inside the plane immediately, but Colleen stayed out for a while longer, waving her arm to Exile. At that, the husky shot a few of the men with his freeze eyes before sprinting to the plane. There was more fire directed to him than the others, and had to weave quite a bit.

"Start up the plane. We're getting out of here as soon as Huntie is back," Colleen said, her face serious.

"Negative," Exile told her, shaking her head. "Hunter said we leave now, with or without him. I need your help to fly plane."

"We're not leaving him," Colleen nearly shouted at him.

The two stared at each other like dogs ready to fight, nether budging an inch.

"I'll get Blitz to help, but he is slow learner," Exile consented, and went inside.

Colleen took what she got, but didn't go into the plane. Instead she waited by the door for the golden retriever to return.

Little did Colleen know that Hunter was having a hard time getting to the plane. Even with his super speed, he was having difficulty dodging the beams that the strange weapons shot out. He was still feeling woozy from before, and he didn't have Exile helping him. All the weapons were now concentrating on him, and were keeping him away from the plane.

_What are you guys waiting for? _Hunter thought as loud as he could, hoping Mira would hear him. _Take off. Go!_

Inside the plane, Exile and Blitz were getting the plane ready for take off, Mira sitting in a seat behind them. Now that she was out of danger and not feeling the pain of the others, she was feeling better although still shaken up. In almost a stupor, she repeated Hunter's words without realizing where they were coming from.

"What are you guys waiting for? Take off. Go!" she said, with the same inflections in her voice as Hunter. In fact, part of her voice even sounded like Hunter.

"Is difficult with Blitz? He knows nothing of flying plane," Exile explained. "But we go anyway." He started up the engine. After a few moments for it to warm up, the wheels started moving.

When the plane started to move, Colleen felt panic inside. "Hunter! Hurry up!" she shouted to her leader.

Hunter saw the plane moving, and felt relieved. But then he saw Colleen still standing outside. The plane was moving away from her.

"No, Colleen. Get inside!" Hunter shouted, dodging another volley of fire that prevented him from getting closer to the plane.

As if the men in black clothing were able to see Hunter's dread, they turned their weapons on Colleen.

Hunter, still dodging a few of the weapons that were still targeting him, saw the female cano-mutant under fire, and charged in that direction. He was running so fast that the breeze from his traveling put out the fire trails he left behind. He watched with eyes watery from the wind as Colleen stumbled backward as she moved away from the beams of the weapons.

The collie, not seeing where she was going, fell backward onto the ground, an easy target now. Just when she saw a beam of light fill her vision, a body of golden fur leaped in front of her. Colleen flinched instinctively, and when she opened her eyes again Hunter was laying over her legs in dog form, gagging.

Looking up, Colleen could see the men in black coming closer. Knowing her martial arts skills would be useless against their weapons, she quickly picked up Hunter and ran into the plane. Once inside, she slammed her hand over the button that closed the door.

"Fly, Exile! Fly now!" she shouted to the husky.

"I'm trying," Exile yelled back. "There is no room to get up into air. We're blocked in."

Colleen ran to the front of the plane, pushing Blitz out of the way. Looking out of the window, she could see what Exile was talking about. There were vehicles all around the park, black in color and suspicious looking.

"Then let's make a run way," she growled, and opened the throttle while grabbing the stick from Exile. "Blitz, get out of the way. Exile, I'll need you to be my co-pilot right now. We need to get out of here right now." With deft movements, she was able to navigate the bulky plane out of the park, only scraping against a few of the black cars and breaking off a few branches from the tree. She then turned sharply onto the street. But still, they weren't out of the clear just yet.

"They're coming after us. And they're shooting more than those weird weapons," Blitz reported from Exile's usual spot at the computer board. "Hurry up before they shoot something bigger."

"Oh, shut up. I'm doing the best I can," Colleen shouted, anger and fear in her voice. Her hands started to quiver as she had to moved the plane awkwardly around buildings to prevent the plane from having its wings torn off.

There was an awful noise in the back that could only be from Hunter, the sound of a dog loosing the contents of its stomach.

_Hold on, Hunter. We'll get you home,_ Colleen thought fiercely.

Mira, hearing both Colleen's thoughts and feeling Hunter's pain, woke a little more from the terror driven stupor she was in. After many years of caring for dogs, she knew what to do without even thinking. Standing up, she went to Hunter to move him away from his sick. She saw down with her back against the plane's structure, and put Hunter's head in her lap. From there, she patted his head soothingly, calming him with her thoughts, getting him to drift asleep.

Colleen saw this from the corner of her eye, her nerves returning as she knew that Mira would take care of Hunter. With that, she was able to concentrate on her driving. Spotting an opening that only gave them inches to spare on both sides, she was able to bring the plane into the air with the help of Exile's steady hands.

Once they were all high in the air, their speed constantly carrying them to safety, a wave of emotions hit Colleen. All the tension rushed out of her, and she felt weak and hysterical. To release it, she laughed in a crazy sort of way, just to keep tears back. Then she took a deep breath to calm herself down, pushing back her hair before straightening up. She hit the auto pilot button.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked, turning around.

"I'm alright," Blitz said, sounding a little dizzy.

Exile, who was the only one who noticed Colleen's panic attack, decided to ignore what he witnessed and nodded. "Okay, over here. Where is Mira?"

"Here," her small voice called out from behind all the seats. "I'm fine. But Hunter is still sick."

They all gathered back to where Mira was, and looked down at their leader. Hunter was still in his dog form, coughing once in a while and looking very miserable.

"He has a fever. And I think he's going to change back soon. I can feel it," Mira said, sounding sick enough to throw up as well. She held her stomach as Hunter's pain washed over her.

In a few moments, Hunter was moaning and groaning in pain, panting as he bore the agony of his body changing again. The others watched as he reverted back to his cano-mutant form in a matter of seconds. It was a chilling moment for all of them. Once Hunter had stopped changing, he sighed with relief. And then started shaking.

Mira felt his forehead. He was hot to the touch, but he had chills. "Could someone find something to cover him? Right now."

Exile knew where the first aid supplies were stored, and went to get a blanket. When he came back, he draped it over the Road Rovers' leader's body.

That's when Blitz and Colleen realized that they, like Hunter, were not wearing any clothes. In all the excitement, it was something they neglected to realize during the excitement.

Blitz screamed a high pitched scream, and hid behind one of the seats. "Exile, can you get me a blanket too?"

"Gladly," Exile said, and handed one to the doberman and one to the collie.

"Ah, is someone shy?" Colleen teased, and coolly took another blanket and wrapped it around her body like a towel. She flipped her hair, and smirked. "You do realize that we're covered in hair. All over."

"Ja. But I don't want to blind anyone with my dazzling gorgeous body. Or make anyone jealous," Blitz told them with as least amount of humility as he could muster.

"Oh please," both Exile and Colleen said as one, rolling their eyes in sync.

Mira rubbed Hunter's ears softly as she half listened as Blitz continued to brag about himself, Colleen berate and put him down by "forgetting" his name, and Exile trying to ignore the both of them. She could feel Hunter's breath slow down and start to fall asleep. Then she noticed something reflecting light in the corner. She turned her head and saw it was a metal object. As she did, she spotted something in the corner, light reflecting off of a metal surface. She looked closer, and saw that it was one of the strange weapons their attackers were carrying. The gun-like devices that reverted the Road Rovers back to their original forms was lying unseen in the plane. Where did it come from?

She was starred at it, still petting the golden retriever's head rhythmically, when an idea came into her head. The weapon returned the Rovers to their dog forms; did that mean it could turn her back into a human? The idea was so bold and clear in her mind, especially when the last few hours weren't, that she held onto it faster than a secret. She looked at what the others were doing. They were all looking at Hunter.

"So, you guys get embarrassed at being naked? I would think, since you're dogs and all," Mira said, trying to smirk. "I mean, you're cover by all that fur, I didn't even think anything of it."


End file.
